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Trinidad
Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott has minced no words in criticising the pitch used in Trinidad for the T20 World Cup semifinal match against South Africa on Wednesday (Jun 26). Afghanistan were flattened by the South African bowling unit on a pitch that offered a lot to the bowlers.
Batting first, Afghanistan were bundled out for a paltry score of 56 runs, the lowest total a side has ever managed in a T20 WC semi-final.
"I don't want to get myself into trouble. But I also don't want to sound a bit like 'sour grapes' but that's not the pitch that you want to have a semi-final of a World Cup on. Plain and simple," said Trott after the match.
"It should be a fair contest. I'm not saying it should be completely flat with no spin and seam movement, you shouldn't have batters worrying about moving forward and having the ball fly over their head. You should be confident in getting through the line or use their skills. And T20 is all about attacking and scoring runs and taking wickets. Not looking to survive," he added.
The former England player said if the opposition had bowled well using their skill, it would have been acceptable, but the nature of the pitch rendered batting an almost impossible task.
Also read | South Africa storm into maiden T20 World Cup final with massive win over Afghanistan
Nerves get to Afghanistan
Afghanistan, playing the first knockout match in their relatively brief cricketing history, perhaps could not deal with the nerves as well as the short turnaround time. The Afghan side had played their last Super 8 match against Bangladesh on Monday (Jun 24) and had to contend with a flight delay before arriving in Trinidad where they did not get any time for practice.
As for South Africa, Marco Jansen was the star with the ball as he started the procession of Afghan batters who could not survive on the pitch that aided pace bowling. Jansen was ably supported by the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi, who forced the Afghanistan capitulation.
Afghanistan had come into the semifinal on the back of a heroic win against the Bangla Tigers. Not many would have predicted the Afghan side to reach the semifinals but the team, led by Rashid Khan showed exemplary courage and doggedness to beat the odds.
(With inputs from agencies)