MANCHESTER: The International Cricket Council defended the farcical finishto India´s World Cup win over Pakistan after rain left Sarfaraz Ahmed´sside with a seemingly impossible task on Sunday.
Pakistan were 166 for six, chasing an initial target of 337, when rainstopped play after 35 overs.
Had the match ended then, they would have lost by 86 runs under theDuckworth/Lewis method for rain-affected matches.
But the umpires decided play could resume, only for Pakistan to be leftneeding an outlandish further 136 in just five more overs to reach arevised D/L winning score of 302 in 40 overs.
“Cricket is prone to farce – this is up there, this is a top five moment,”said Jonathan Agnew, the BBC cricket correspondent.
Fellow BBC radio commentator Graeme Swann also questioned the decision toleave Pakistan needing a run-rate of nearly 28 an over.
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The former England off-spinner said: “If you´re at home and you are tryingto explain this to children just say that sometimes grown-ups do thingsthat don´t make sense.”
Pakistan, unsurprisingly, got nowhere near their new target and lost by 89runs under D/L, with only rank outsiders Afghanistan now below the 1992champions in the 10-team table.
But an ICC spokesman told AFP that, with net run-rate a potentialtie-breaker in qualifying the top four for the semi-finals if teams arelevel on points, it would have been wrong to end the game any earlier andso, at the very least, deny Pakistan the chance to boost their rate.-APP/AFP
