Rain delays toss, uncertainty over Bangladesh-Pakistan match

Rain continues to disrupt proceedings in Islamabad, delaying the toss for Bangladesh's final Champions Trophy group-stage match against Pakistan. Although the rain had briefly stopped, it returned, preventing the toss from taking place at the scheduled time of 2:30 pm. With the match originally set to begin at 3:00 pm, uncertainty now looms over when play will get underway.

Bangladesh arrived at the tournament with hopes of making a strong impact, but their campaign has turned into a nightmare. A defeat to India in the opening match left them in a precarious position, making victory in their second game a must to keep their semi-final hopes alive. However, another batting collapse saw them fall to New Zealand, sealing their early exit from the competition. With back-to-back defeats eliminating them from contention, today's match against Pakistan has now become a mere formality.

However, even this dead rubber faces uncertainty due to the weather. Rain has been falling in Islamabad since last night, and although it paused briefly in the morning, the skies have remained overcast. Showers resumed over Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, forcing the ground staff to keep the pitch covered.

Despite already being eliminated, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto had earlier stressed the importance of finishing the tournament on a high.

Following the loss to New Zealand, where he scored 77 runs, Shanto reflected on their final fixture against Pakistan, saying, "I definitely believe it's an important match. If we can finish well, it will give us confidence moving forward. But we need significant improvement in our batting and fielding. Hopefully, we can perform better in those areas in the next match."