It was another rough day of cricket for Colombo. Rain stopped play in the opening match against Sri Lanka after only 4.2 overs and it was abandoned. Since India has already secured the last semi-final spot, the match is a dead rubber. This meant that its effect on the standings of the World Cup was nil. Charari Athapaththu, captain of Sri Lanka, turned 36 in February. This might be the last match of her stellar World Cup career.
As the recent weather disasters—dousing the ICC T20 World Cup in Hindustan—illustrate, climate is a growing threat, especially at the R Premadasa Stadium. Of the eleven games played in Colombo, seven of them were affected by rain. Both teams struggled to maintain their aspirations as Sri Lanka needed victories against India and England to keep their semi-final hopes alive but fell short in those encounters.
Sri Lanka finished an unfortunate World Cup campaign with only one victory from seven games. Pakistan ended their tournament run winless. Athapaththu, who displayed resilience even when rain interrupted the game, initially refused to leave the field, demonstrating her commitment to her team and the sport.
Pakistan captain Fatima Sana expressed similar thoughts on the difficulty endured throughout the tournament. She emphasized the need for better facilities, stating, “The ICC must arrange good venues for the World Cup because we have been waiting for this for four years.”
Athapaththu acknowledged her team’s improvement and development throughout the World Cup. The pressure was always going to be on us going into this World Cup, but we dropped the opening matches to India and England. We haven’t done things right, but we’re going to look ahead to how we can do things better moving forward,” she said.
As with so much of this World Cup, it’s been a real test for both sides. Pakistan was originally scheduled to play all their matches at the R Premadasa Stadium, given that political tensions between Pakistan and fellow South Asian rivals India remained high. The mood entering these games were electric, with both sides highly motivated to deliver under the prevailing stressors.
Both teams captains admitted their teams had a lot to work on after the final match of the tournament. Fatima Sana noted, “We were very good in bowling and fielding but we lacked in batting. In a couple of matches, we were up to the mark and close against Australia and England. We couldn’t cross the line.”
As rain continued to wreak havoc on the tournament, both fans and players took to social media and other outlets to voice their frustrations. The frequent abandonment of matches took a serious toll on team morale. It left fans desperate for more action on the field.
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