Afghanistan’s heroic campaign in the 2024 T20 World Cup came to an end at the penultimate hurdle when the Rashid Khan-led side suffered a lopsided 9-wicket defeat against South Africa in Trinidad. Opting to bat first, Afghanistan managed to put just 56 runs on the board, the lowest in T20 international matches and also the lowest in the history of T20 World Cups. After Afghanistan’s journey in the competition ended on Wednesday, coach Jonathan Trott fumed at the ICC, saying it was not even a “even contest”.
Speaking to the media at the post-match press conference, Trott said that although he did not want to get into trouble, he wanted to highlight the poor nature of the pitch which was prepared for a clash as big as a World Cup semi-final. -Final.
“I don’t want to get in trouble. But I also don’t want to sound like ‘sour grapes’, but this is not the field where you want to have a World Cup semi-final. Plain and simple. It must be a fair competition. I’m not saying it should be completely flat, no spin and seam movement, you shouldn’t have batsmen worried about coming forward and having the ball fly over their heads or using their skills and T20 is all about attacking, scoring runs. and take wickets, without trying to survive,” Trott said during the press conference.
Trott wanted the pitch to offer something to both his team and South Africa. However, he feels his team were hampered by a surface that favored the opposing team more.
“If the opponent played well and put you in a position after playing well and skillfully, then everything is fine with them. So it’s a matter of adaptation.”
“If we had played like South Africa, we might have seen a different second half,” he said during the media chat.
Jonathan Trott on the Afghanistan agenda
Trott also spoke about the hectic schedule the Afghanistan team was exposed to. But he did not point to the calendar as the reason for his team’s embarrassing semi-final defeat.
“We didn’t get back to the hotel until three o’clock and we had to leave at eight o’clock – five hours later, so we didn’t get much sleep, so the guys were obviously very tired and had a lot to process emotionally. physically. So it’s new territory for the guys,” said Trott. That said, Trott admitted they were beaten by a strong South African unit.
“But we knew the schedule, so that’s not an excuse. When you go to World Cups or tournaments, you can’t have everything your way, and you have to fight and play against the odds that you have. It’s done sometimes and very proud of that, but it’s not, it’s not the reason why we didn’t win today.” “South Africa played well, took advantage of the conditions and showed our boys what they are capable of. But tonight it didn’t go well.” The 43-year-old hopes the semi-final defeat will serve as a learning lesson for a team that has improved a lot in the last five years.
“…obviously we got one better than the previous World Cup (ODI) in November and it’s just about taking it step by step and hopefully we learn from today, the batsmen certainly.
“What it takes to play international cricket and play against a bowling team like South Africa on a pitch that is perhaps not conducive to high scores and finding ways to win games… we just couldn’t find a way today. ” Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (0) and Ibrahim Zadran (2), who were Afghanistan’s best bowlers in the tournament, failed, putting pressure on the middle order that had not fired in the tournament.
“No one else was able to run. We need to find a reason for this,” Trott said.
Despite the defeat to South Africa, Afghanistan manages to keep its head high, having left a mark on the tournament and raising its status as an elite team.
Topics mentioned in this article
This story originally appeared on ndtv.com read the full story
