🏏Pak vs India : Super 4, Match - 3, Asia Cup 2023 Thread #1🏏 - Page 54

The covers have been partially removed, but still the bulk of them are firmly in place. No rain at the moment. We will start losing overs from 6:22 pm, so in all likelihood we will have a shortened game if it were to finish today. The groundstaff is working very hard to dry out a big moist spot close to mid-wicket. We are still a while away from a restart, so hang tight!

Chandran: "How it is Lack of Allrounders in India side when there is Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, the World Best All Rounders?" -- I think he meant batters who can bowl a bit, and bowlers who can bat a bit, to give India a bit more flexibility with their combination.

Nauman: "If I am not mistaken, Indian bowlers face a possiblity of bowling 50 overs tomorrow evening and another 50 overs on the very next afternoon, potentially with about 15-16 hours of rest?" -- Yup, it's a definite possibility.

Sree: "Ridiculous that people complain about the lack of batsmen who bowl. This is not 2000s anymore. The two new ball rule and the fielding restrictions have absolutely neutered part-time bowlers. A Suresh Raina or a Sachin Tendulkar bowling in today's ODI cricket would single-handedly lose us the game." -- Yup, the extra fielder in the ring from overs 11-40 has completely transformed ODIs.

Originally posted by: SoniRita

Sree: "Ridiculous that people complain about the lack of batsmen who bowl. This is not 2000s anymore. The two new ball rule and the fielding restrictions have absolutely neutered part-time bowlers. A Suresh Raina or a Sachin Tendulkar bowling in today's ODI cricket would single-handedly lose us the game." -- Yup, the extra fielder in the ring from overs 11-40 has completely transformed ODIs.

Nilesh : "@Sree FYI Sachin regularly bowled 10 overs in 90s before 15 overs and also at death and won india games with ball. He wasn't too bad in 2000s either" -- He was always extremely useful, but he (and other part-timers) often got away with a lot of long hops thanks to the the fifth fielder on the boundary, especially when he bowled legspin. Much less allowance for inaccuracy nowadays.

6.15pm The groundstaff are using large sponges to soak up the moisture from a sodden patch of outfield. This will take a while.

6.25pm A reminder: we started losing overs at 6.22pm. Anyway, here's Sreshth once more to describe the riveting action in the middle.

Originally posted by: SoniRita

Sree: "Ridiculous that people complain about the lack of batsmen who bowl. This is not 2000s anymore. The two new ball rule and the fielding restrictions have absolutely neutered part-time bowlers. A Suresh Raina or a Sachin Tendulkar bowling in today's ODI cricket would single-handedly lose us the game." -- Yup, the extra fielder in the ring from overs 11-40 has completely transformed ODIs.

Adarsh: "@ Sree: No one is expecting the part-time bowlers to pick up a fifer. 5 overs for 30-35 runs is perfectly acceptable. Australia has batters who can bowl - Stoinis, Maxwell, Marsh, Green. England has bowlers who can bat - Woakes, Rashid, Robinson, Wood, Archer, Jordan (besides Stokes and Moeen). India is lacking on both fronts, making them heavily dependent on Hardik and Jaddu."

Shiva: Positive intent from the Indian openers after the last game against Pakistan. So this looks as a good sign moving into the mega tourney next month.

Parag P: What skills put KL Rahul ahead of Shreyas Iyer? -- "Iyer suffered a back spasm just before the game and hence missed out."