Pakistan and Sri Lanka are scheduled to face each other today in the ongoing Asia Cup. It is a crucial encounter for both teams as the winner will reach the final of the tournament and will face India. However, the weather forecast was not promising for this match either and as expected, rain has delayed the toss in Colombo. It is pelting down at the moment, and it seems that we are in for a shortened encounter.
Pakistan, at least, will be hoping for a shortened game as their net run-rate is not good after a massive loss of 228 runs at the hands of India earlier this week. Notably, there is no reserve day for the PAK vs SL game either which makes it mandatory for the match to take place. There is a lot of anticipation around the India vs Pakistan final for the first time in the Asia Cup but if the match is washed out today, the fixture will continue to remain a dream.
Will Pakistan qualify for final if PAK vs SL is washed out?
No. Pakistan's NRR is currently -1.892 while Sri Lanka is well placed in that aspect with the NRR of -0.2. Both teams have two points each to their name having beaten Bangladesh. If the PAK vs SL match is washed out, then they will end at three points at each and on the basis of NRR, Sri Lanka will make it to the final of Asia Cup.
Meanwhile, Pakistan announced their playing XI for this match a ay before only making five changes to their line-up. While three of them were forced, a couple more seemed tactical. Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Salman Agha are injured while Faheem Ashraf and Fakar Zaman have been left out. The players included only for this match are Mohammad Haris, Saud Shakeel, Zaman Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Wasim Jnr.
Pakistan playing XI: Mohammad Haris, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Zaman Khan
Sri Lanka probable XI: Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana.
