New Delhi: The Trinidad pitch on which the first T20 World Cup semi-final between South Africa and Afghanistan was played was ‘dangerous’, said former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower on Thursday.
South Africa won the match by nine wickets after bundling out the Afghans for 56 runs in 11.5 overs to enter their maiden World Cup final. They chased down the target in 8.5 overs but not before facing difficulty on the pitch at the Brian Lara Stadium.
Their was considerable lateral movement and irregular bounce at the wicket that the Afghan batters, playing in their maiden semi-final, failed to negotiate.
After their match, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott and South Africa skipper Aiden Markram felt the pitch was not suitable to host an important match like a T20 World Cup semi-final.
Flower to echoed those sentiments and sid Afghanistan were not wrong in winning the toss and opting to bat.
“You can’t blame Afghanistan for doing what they did at the toss. They had such an excellent record batting first and then defending with a very good varied attack of their own,” Flower was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
“But batting first was a really tough ask. You didn’t know what a good score would be and they were just blown away.
“A couple of balls flew off a length around, sort of shoulder, neck, chin height off the South African quicks and one of them flew over Quinton de Kock — the ‘keeper’s head and gloves for four byes. I was pleased that no one got hurt.”
Flower also said that the ICC should have chosen an used pitch for this semi-final instead of gambling with a new track.
“You saw some interesting visual shots from above the square and a couple of the commentators referenced this being a brand new pitch. Perhaps, they could have used a pitch that had been used previously,” he said.
“Those shots showed that crazy paving-type effect and that those blocks and the cracks produced this wild variance in bounce. As a batter, you’re trying to predict where the ball is going to be. You want to meet it somewhere near the middle of the bat, at least.”
South Africa won the semi-final match by nine wickets after bundling out Afghanistan for 56 runs in 11.5 overs to enter their maiden T20 World Cup final. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
