'Toothless tiger': World Cup winning captain blasts ICC and ACC for IND vs PAK reserve day

Asia Cup 2023: While almost a week has passed since the culmination of India vs. Pakistan Asia Cup 2023 match, the provision of the reserve day that was attached specifically to this match is still making rounds. The ACC's call to give the IND vs PAK match a reserve day drew overbearing criticism from the cricket fraternity and even though the match is in the books now, the opinions are still chiming in. The basis of criticism lay with why only one match has been given such importance over others.

3 things you need to know

• India vs. Pakistan Asia Cup 2023 match received the provision of a reserve day
• India won the match by 228 runs
• The win comes as India's biggest over Pakistan in ODIs

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Arjuna Ranatunga calls ICC 'Toothless Tiger'

Sri Lanka cricket legend and winning captain of the 1996 World Cup, Arjuna Ranatunga has given his say on the decision  to provide the India vs Pakistan match a reserve day. Ranatunga did not shy away from calling ICC a "toothless tiger" in the process of defining the decision. 

"ICC is a toothless tiger. They act very unprofessionally. I think they are the ones who should protect cricket. Ultimately cricket should be controlled by ICC and not by a country. In Asia Cup, you had rules and you changed rules for one game. So where is ACC? Where is ICC?," said Ranatunga to PTI in a sarcastic tone.

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Ranatunga warns about the future

The former Sri Lanka captain laid weight on how the decision to impart reserve day will impact the future, where separate rules for high-octane matches can be gauged.

"I am not very comfortable when you have a tournament, where you change rules for one team. You are looking at a disaster in the future," the World Cup-winning skipper fumed. Why do the other countries allow that (poor scheduling) to happen? Because the BCCI is powerful, or one particular person is powerful. No, it can't happen like that. They should have given an extra day for all the games if that was the case,” said Ranatunga, without taking names.

"So I will not be surprised if, for World Cup, they have a separate rule for Indo-Pak game. This is bad. India is powerful no doubt but then ICC officials are quite comfortable, happy putting coat, tie and hanky and going to meetings. ICC will keep their mouth shut and say 'OK, do it'. ICC just talks rubbish, nothing happens," he said.," he added.

"I feel very sad for ICC and ACC because they just want to hold the positions. Former cricketers too don't open, simply because they need the bucks," he said.

"Why did they play in Colombo when you have places like Hambantota? That ground was built to play cricket during the rainy season. And you come to Colombo to play in the Asia Cup. What is ACC doing?" said Ranatunga.