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Rain comes to the rescue of Pakistan

Singapore, April 1: Rain came down in force in the afternoon and steered Pakistan to shore after they were struggling in the triangular opener against world champions Sri Lanka at The Padang here on Monday.

The rains, that hit the island in the morning and did not stop till late in the afternoon resulting in no-play at all in the first session, came down just before the start of the 11th over and at no better time than the Pakistanis would have liked because they were precariously placed at 54 for three in 10 overs in a match that was reduced to 25-over-a-side.

A fresh match will now be played on Tuesday with new toss and a chance for the top three-order Pakistan batsmen to make up amends for their bad shots they played today.

However, the chances of a scheduled start is unlikely as the outfield has become more soggy. The wicket, which had a wet patch, must have also been affected because a little drizzle had again started before the start of the eighth over.

At the time of filing this report, the rain though had stopped, dark clouds were still hanging over the sky. There is forecast of more rain.

If there would be no play on Tuesday as well, the two teams will equally share two points between them. The rescheduled start is at 9.30 a.m. (S.S.T), 6:30 a.m. (P.S.T).

The two umpires, Russell Tiffin from Zimbabwe and South African David Orchard made visits to the wicket four times in the first session only to decide on the fifth one that a reduced overs game would start at 1:45 (S.S.T).

That decision was not appreciated and Pakistan manager Intikhab Alam couldn't hide his displeasure when he said: ``If they (umpires) say that the match will start, we have no other choice but to play.''

The disappointment in the Pakistan camp must have grown when Aamir Sohail was beaten by Arjuna Ranatunga on the spin of coin and was asked to bat first.

Pakistan, trying to adjust to the latest conditions, changed their initial team combination and dropped Ramiz Raja and brought in Basit Ali who was to bat at No 6. Paceman Ataur Rahman, who bowled a tight spell of 10-0-40-1 against India at Bangalore, made way for Mohammad Akram while Saqlain Mushtaq was named in place of Mushtaq Ahmad.

Unlike the toss, Pakistan had a lucky start when skipper Aamir Sohail was dropped on the second ball off Pramodiya Wickremasinghe by Asanka Gurusinha at deep square-leg.

But that joy was short-lived as Saeed Anwar attempted a massive shot at square-leg on the last ball of the second over to be caught just outside the 30-yard circle by Kumar Dharmasena off Chaminda Vaas. The score was then nine and Saeed could contribute only three.

Sohail again had a lucky escape when on the first ball of the fourth over he was dropped by Aravinda de Silva off Chaminda Vaas at fine-leg that was placed inside the 30-yard circle.

Sohail punished the Lankans for that lapse hitting the first boundary of the match two balls later. In the fifth over bowled by Wickremasinghe, Sohail slammed a six and new-man Inzamamul Haq struck a four that resulted in 12 runs coming from that over. Sohail finally ran out of luck for the third time when in the sixth over he tried a pull against a well pitched ball off Chaminda Vaas only to get an inner edge and Romesh Kaluwitharana picked up the catch with ease. The score was then 32 and Sohail struck a six and a four in his 21-ball 22.

Pakistan suffered the second blow of the day when Inzamamul Haq tried to hit Arjuna Ranatunga over mid-on but ended up spooning the ball in the air and Vaas got into act for the third time. Inzamam hit three boundaries in his 11-ball 15.

Ejaz Ahmad and Salim Malik joined together having two tasks aheadstabilise Pakistan's position and put up a fighting score. But they could not perform their duties as rain came down at 2:40 (S.S.T) after only 50 minutes of play and the umpires were left with no option but to abandon the play.

The two brothers-in-law were six each at the close.