"Somebody should find the real story" - Sunil Gavaskar on Colombo remaining the venue for the remainder of Asia Cup 2023
Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar believes the real reason behind the Colombo phase of the Asia Cup 2023 not shifting to Hambantota should be found out.
While there were several headlines about the possible shift from the Sri Lankan capital to a much drier Hambantota, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) decided to continue with the originally scheduled venue.
Heavy rains are forecast during the coming week in Colombo, forcing Gavaskar to state that even the players participating need to consider the bigger picture. Speaking on Sports Today, he felt the players may not have agreed to the venue change.
"Well, somebody should find the real story. It appears from cricketing points, that it was probably the players who didn't want to go to Hambantota. So administrators had to, at the last moment, change it from Hambantota to Colombo despite knowing Colombo could have pretty dicey weather," he said.
Gavaskar clarified that he was not pointing to any specific player from a team.
"When I meant players, I didn't mean players of one team but players of all teams that were supposed to be there," he added.
Rain played spoilsport in the marquee India-Pakistan clash at Pallekele a week ago, with the teams sharing points. The Men in Blue also endured several rain interruptions in their subsequent game against Nepal before winning by ten wickets in a reduced 23-over contest.
Colombo will host the remaining five Super Four games and the grand finale, with only the India-Pakistan fixture and the summit clash having a reserve day.
"Easy to point fingers at administrators" - Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar also sympathized with the administrators, who often get a big chunk of the blame for matches either getting reduced or abandoned due to inclement weather.
Several prestigious tournaments had weather have a substantial impact on the outcome and also had fans lashing out on missing the high-voltage action. The 74-year-old, however, felt the proper reason should be known before pointing fingers at anyone, especially the administrators.
"It is easy to point fingers at administrators and they can be easily made scapegoats. It is really important to find out why despite knowing that the weather forecast of Colombo won't be good, matches were not held in Hambantota," he said.
Gavaskar also felt that the players, while deserving to have a say in the scheduling, should be accommodating during such drastic circumstances.
"Obviously, you want players to be in good mental space. The gym facilities, practice facilities need to be good but at times like these, we need to look at the larger picture and Hambantota had less chance of rain and Colombo has more chance of rain. And when I say experimentation, it is a chance to prepare for the World Cup. But by no means I am saying that the Asia Cup is less important. We also need to win the tournament," he concluded.
Following a two-day break, the Asia Cup bandwagon rolls on, with Sri Lanka taking on Bangladesh in the second Super Fours game in Colombo on Saturday.
Bangladesh lost their first Super Four contest against Pakistan by seven wickets and is faced with an almost must-win situation. India will take on Pakistan in round two of the 2023 Asia Cup from the same venue on Sunday, September 10.