Afghanistan suffered a crushing nine-wicket defeat at the hands of South Africa in the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad on Thursday (June 27).
The pitch offered a lot of seam movement, which South African pacers exploited brilliantly to bowl out Afghanistan for a mere 56 in 11.5 overs. Only Azmatullah Omarzai managed to reach the double figures, scoring 10 off 12 balls.
The Proteas pace trio of Marco Jansen (3-16 in 3 overs), Anrich Nortje (2-7 in 3 overs) and Kagiso Rabada (2-14 in 3 overs) shared seven wickets among them while left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3-6 in 1.5 overs) took the remaining three scalps.
In reply, South Africa lost Quinton de Kock (5) cheaply but the duo of Reeza Hendricks (29*) and Aiden Markram (23*) stayed unbeaten to seal the deal in 8.5 overs.
Afghanistan’s listless display in the semi-final led to former England skipper Michael Vaughan voicing concerns about the T20 World Cup scheduling.
Taking to social media platform X, Vaughan didn’t filter his words as he attributed Afghanistan's semi-final loss to the biased schedule favouring India.
Vaughan also highlighted logistical challenges faced by the Afghanistan team, including a significant flight delay to Trinidad, which resulted in insufficient preparation time at the new venue.
"So Afghanistan qualified for the WC semi, winning in St Vincent on Monday night .. 4 hr flight delay on Tues to Trinidad so no time to practice or get accustomed to a new venue .. utter lack of respect to players, i am afraid," Vaughan posted.
Furthermore, Vaughan questioned the scheduling of the semifinal matches, claiming that the planning seemed to favour Indian viewership timings.
"Surely this semi should have been the Guyana one .. but because the whole event is geared towards India it's so unfair on others .. #T20IWorldCup," he wrote.
“They haven’t played one game in the evening at the WC,” his another post read.
Meanwhile, India are set to face England in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Thursday (June 27).
The Rohit Sharma-led India will not only look to maintain their unbeaten streak in the tournament but will also be determined to avenge the T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final loss against England.
On the other hand, the defending champions have had a roller-coaster ride in the competition so far. The Three Lions won two out of their four games in the group stage and followed it with a couple more victories from three matches in the Super 8 round.
