Bristol: The Cricket World Cup 2019 match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was called off on Friday due to rain without a ball bowled at the Bristol ground.
Both teams picked up one point each after the washout.
After a patient wait of five-and-a-half hours, the fans at the Bristol ground were told at 4pm that the match will not happen.
Many had expected that they would play at least a 20-over match. It is a big loss for Pakistan as they had expected to beat Sri Lanka.
So for the first time Sri Lanka have avoided a defeat against Pakistan in a World Cup game.
The cut-off time for a 20-over-side was 4.19pm but umpires Nigel Llong and Ian Gould felt that it would not be possible to make the ground ready though the sun had finally come out from behind the cloud cover.
Following the no result, Sri Lanka sit in third place in the standings, with Pakistan placed fourth.
Sarfraz Ahmad, commenting on the called-off match, said: “We wanted to play the match, unfortunately we couldn’t do anything. We’ll take one point before the Australia match. Momentum was very high after the England match. Unfortunately, we didn’t play today. We have a confident side so hopefully we’ll do well against Australia.”
Sarfraz also insisted that all side are frightened of his men now. “Every team is scared about Pakistan,” he said. “The dressing room is very confident after the England match. Australia are a strong team, we have to play stronger than them. Hopefully, we work harder before that match.”
Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne too wanted his team to play. “We won the last game and ended up with a high note,” he said. “We might have lost some matches, but want to give some fight. Want to compete with the others. We did really well against Afghanistan. If you get a good start, you can keep going with the momentum. If you take the last couple of games, we couldn’t capitalise in the middle order. As a group we’re doing really good.”
