COLOMBO, July 26: Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer on Monday questioned the bonus points system adopted for one-day cricket after his team's fate in the ongoing Asia Cup here was left at the mercy of rivals Sri Lanka and India.
Pakistan, who thrashed India by 59 runs on Sunday, have no option but to sit back and watch Tuesday's Super League game between Sri Lanka and India to know whether they will make it to the Aug 1 final.
Sri Lanka, who are assured of a place in the final, will take Pakistan along if they defeat India. A victory for India, however, will knock Pakistan out of the tournament even before their last league match against Bangladesh on Thursday.
Under tournament rules, a team secures five points for a win and one bonus point if it achieves victory with a run-rate 1.25 times higher than the rival's. But a losing team gets a bonus point if it prevents the winner from achieving a run-rate 1.25 times higher than its own.
Pakistan, who scored 300-9 from 50 overs against India, needed to keep India down to 239 to take six full points from the match. India were reduced to 235-8 with three deliveries remaining in the match, before the ninth-wicket pair of Anil Kumble and Lakshmipathy Balaji scrambled six runs off the final three balls to gain their team a vital point.
It left India with seven points, two more than Pakistan's five. Sri Lanka are sitting pretty with 12 full points from two games. Woolmer, watching in horror as India played safe to ensure an extra point, said he was unhappy with the rules.
"It shows a flaw in the system," said Woolmer on his first assignment with the Pakistani team. "I think the bonus point should be closer to the main target. I don't think 60 runs difference is right - 20 or 25 runs would be closer to what we want."
Indian captain Saurav Ganguly conceded his team had deliberately targetted a bonus point after their chase of Pakistan's mammoth 300-9 fell away. "When we started the innings we wanted to win because we have chased 300 many times in the past, but when we got to 160-5 we wanted to get to 240," said Ganguly.
"We still have a chance to qualify for the final and the only good thing is that we have been in this situation many times in the past and somehow managed to pull through. "We have not played well in this tournament but at least we have a chance to redeem ourselves on Tuesday," the Indian captain said. -AFP
