With rain playing spoilsport yet again during the India vs. Pakistan Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 clash, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in their bid to dry out the ground at R. Premadasa Stadium in Columbo brought out makeshift fans, sparking plenty of notable reactions on social media.
While Indian spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin called it an ‘innovation’ plenty of fans felt that it was a great ‘jugaad’, as a makeshift stand was brought onto the field, with three sets of fans connected to a cable spreading nearly half the length of the ground to dry out the surface.
Ultimately, the move didn’t help in getting play back underway as rain won and the match was postponed to the reserve day on Monday, September 11.
While it remains to be seen whether the Asia Cup Super 4 clash can be concluded on the reserve day with rain predicted on Monday as well, but the move to bring on make-shift fans on the field to dry the ground sparked plenty of hilarious memes.
Here’s how fans reacted:
Innovation #PakvsInd #AsiaCup2023Ground staff doing the most thankless job. pic.twitter.com/gAhu4WwJGI
— Ashwin (@ashwinravi99) September 10, 2023
Fans to dry The Ground now. Copying the Idea from BCCI.#PAKvIND #INDvPAK #INDvsPAK pic.twitter.com/VJqlS6d5U0— Shaharyar Ejaz (@SharyOfficial) September 10, 2023
whenever other boards use fans or dryers to dry the ground, The amount of respect in my heart increases for PCB ♥️#IndiavsPak https://t.co/azCq9b5jTq pic.twitter.com/N5aGZKRfwp— Hamxa (@hamxashahbax21) September 10, 2023
We need these to dry the ground quickly in Colombo! Pakistan did it brilliantly during the PSL #AsiaCup2023 #INDvsPAK pic.twitter.com/WkVHADM4u5— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) September 10, 2023
Desi jugaadUsing table fans to dry wet patches#IndiavsPak pic.twitter.com/CT20URVtmT
— Harsh Upadhyay (@upadhyay_harsh1) September 10, 2023
they using fans in international asia cup match to dry the pitch. Meanwhile we use helicopter in local PSL league to dry it. #PAKvIND #Terremoto #ENGvARG #earthquake #INDvPAK #ViratKohli #BilawalBhutto #DollarRate #میرے_پاکستانیو pic.twitter.com/G21B5ET1yx— ABDULLAH✨ (@Abdullahpakraja) September 10, 2023
Taking nothing away from the groundstaff who worked their socks off but the rain gods had other ideas. Earlier, Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill smashed fifties to help India get off to a splendid start.
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Rohit and Gill stitched together a stand of 121 runs for the first wicket although once the pair were dismissed Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were doing the rebuilding job when the heavens opened up and play was stopped as the scoreboard read 147/2 after 24.1 overs.
Despite all the attempts to get play underway, rain won the day and the play was pegged back to the reserve day. Luckily, no overs were lost and the entire fifty overs per side game will be played with India set to resume from where they left off, given that rain stays away.