“Seen everything in life” – Fans react to empty stands for IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2023 Super-4 clash

India and Pakistan are locking horns in a high-voltage Asia Cup 2023 Super-4 clash at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, September 10.

A competition between the two teams is popularly known as the biggest rivalry in cricket. Surprisingly, though, there are empty stands during the contest. The poor weather forecast (rain predicted) is a possible reason behind the vacant seats.

To fill the empty stands, Sri Lanka Cricket shared that the ticket prices have been reduced to Rs 500 and Rs 1000 at the last minute but that seems to have gone in vain.

According to the official ticketing website of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Asia Cup 2023 hosts, more than 15,000 seats were still available during the game.

Fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) were shocked at empty stands in the India-Pakistan match, which is rare. One user wrote:

“Seen everything in life.”

Here are some of the other reactions:

Pakistan opt to field against India in Asia Cup 2023 Super-4 clash

Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to field against India in the Asia Cup 2023 Super-4 game on Sunday. The Men in Green fielded an unchanged side.

At the toss, Azam said:

"We will bowl first. I think there is a bit of moisture, we need to use that. Always, India-Pakistan is high intensity, but we will take it match to match. As a team, we are playing well, we are focused on this one. No changes."

The Men in Blue, on the other hand, made a forced change as Shreyas Iyer was ruled out due to back spasms. KL Rahul replaced him in the playing XI. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah replaced Mohammed Shami after missing the previous game against Nepal for the birth of his child.

India captain Rohit Sharma said at the toss:

"Looking to bat first. There will be a challenge upfront, but the way we guys batted last time around gives us confidence. Two changes - Bumrah is back and one forced change, Shreyas Iyer just got a back spasm, so KL Rahul comes in for him.”

India XI: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Pakistan XI: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan(WK), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf.