New Delhi: Rather than tiredness Afghanistan were undone by a poor pitch in their maiden T20 World Cup semi-final appearance, reckons coach Jonathan Trott.
The Afghans beat Bangaldesh to enter the last four and 48 hours later were bowled out for 56 runs against South Africa for the lowest score in a T20 World Cup semi-final.
The pitch at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy provided excessive lateral movement to seamers also arming them with inconsistent bounce that was exploited by the South African pacers Marco Jansen (3/16), Kagiso Rabada (2/14) and Anrich Nortje (2/7).
South Africa reached the small target in 8.5 overs but they too were uncomfortable at the wicket, which compelled Trott to speak out against the pitch prepared for the important clash.
“I don’t want to get myself into trouble and I don’t want to come across as bitter or it being a case of sour grapes but that’s not the pitch that you want to have a match, a semi-final of a World Cup on, plain and simple,” the former England batter said after the match.
“It should be a fair contest. I’m not saying it should be flat completely with no spin and no seam movement, I’m saying you shouldn’t have batsmen worrying about going forward.
“They should be confident in foot movement and be able to hit through the line or use their skills. T20 is about attacking and about scoring runs and taking wickets, not looking to survive,” he added.
‘Tired’
Approximately 40 hours after beating Bangladesh by eight wickets to qualify for the knockout stage, the team was too emotinally drained to get ready for the semi-final.
They won in Kingstown in an evening match that stretched till late at night and then their travel to Tarouba got delayed by four hours. At the toss, skipper Rashid Khan pointed out the he hadn’t slept adequately.
“We only got back to hotel at three o’clock and then we had to leave at eight o’clock — five hours later so we didn’t get much sleep so the guys obviously were very tired and a lot to process really emotionally physically. So all new territory for the guys,” Trott said.
But the 43-year-old added that South Africa deserved to win as they completely outplayed the Afghans.
“But we knew the schedule, so that’s not an excuse as such. When you go in World Cups or tournaments, you can’t have everything your own way, and you’ve got to fight and play against the odds which you’ve done at times and very proud of that. But it’s no, it’s not the reason why we didn’t win today.
“South Africa bowled well, used the conditions, and showed our boys what it’s capable of. But it just didn’t go our way tonight,” Trott surmised.
South Africa thumped Afghanistan by nine wickets to enter the final of the T20 World Cup Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
