Groundsmen cover the pitch as it rains during the Asia Cup match between India and Pakistan, at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Sri Lanka.
Credit: PTI Photo
If Godfrey Dabrera’s itinerary for Thursday is read into, it would reveal that there’s still some uncertainty in Sri Lanka Cricket regarding the venues.
Dabrera, the national curator, is travelling on the day to Hambantota and Pallekele to ensure that the venues are ready should a potential change take place.
This development comes three days before Sri Lanka take on Bangladesh in the opening game of the Sri Lankan Super Four leg on September 9.
Colombo, which was the original venue as per the schedule, was dropped initially as SLC thought it better to move the games out of the nation’s capital because of horrid weather conditions.
The two venues in the running were Pallekele and Hambantota, but there was confirmation from SLC officials on Tuesday that the games would remain in Colombo.
Two games in the Sri Lanka phase of the tournament have already been affected by rain, and they both happened to be India games. The second half of the first game against Pakistan was washed out, and the second one was truncated.
“The point is that it’s raining everywhere so it doesn’t matter where we host the matches,” said Dabrera. “I am only travelling tomorrow to assess the situation in those two grounds and to keep it ready, just in case. But knowing Colombo the way I do, I think the rains will relent and the matches will happen.
“There might be some stoppages but it will still happen,” he adds.
As for the wickets themselves, Dabrera said: “They are a bit wet but there’s enough time to get them ready.”
Dabrera also revealed that they would not have agreed to host the Asia Cup had they received a prior warning from the meteorological department.
“After it was agreed, they said it would rain for 12 days. Even now, they told us today that it will rain for another two weeks. I don’t think that will be the case,” he said.