The ultimate result of Afghanistan’s unique attitude in the T20 World Cup 2024 was that they lost to South Africa by 9 wickets today.
The match took place in Trinidad, where Afghanistan could score only 56 runs, which was the lowest score in the history of this World Cup.
Afghanistan had decided to bat first at the start of the match, but their poor batting performance affected the result.
Their head coach Jonathan Trott expressed his anger after this defeat and said that this match was not a normal and fair match.
Afghanistan coach after semi-final loss, Said:
“I don’t want to get myself into trouble. But I don’t want to sound like I’m ‘sour grapes’ either, but this is not the pitch you would want to play a World Cup semi-final on. Plain and simple. It should be a fair contest. I’m not saying it should be completely flat, with no spin and no seam movement, you shouldn’t worry about batsmen stepping up and having the ball go over their head. You should be confident in getting out of the line or using your skills. And T20 is about attacking, scoring runs and taking wickets. Not about surviving,” Trott said in a press conference.
“If the opposition bowls well and gets you in the right position through their skill, they have no problem. Then it’s about adapting.”
Afghanistan were disappointed by their openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, who were the top run-scorers for their side in the tournament. In this match, both of them could not succeed again and had to return without a run.
Trott admitted that for his players, they did not get much sleep due to travel and a grueling schedule, which did not make them conducive to play. He also believes that South Africa forced his players to bowl well.
“We got back to the hotel at three o’clock and then we had to leave at eight o’clock – five hours later, so we did not get much sleep, so the players were very tired and they had to go through a lot emotionally and physically. So it was a completely new territory for the players,” Trott said.
“But we knew the schedule, so it is no excuse. When you go to a World Cup or tournament, you can’t have everything your way, and you have to fight and play against the odds, which you have done many times and you are proud of it. But that is not, it is not the reason why we did not win today.” “South Africa bowled well, exploited the conditions and showed our boys what they are capable of. But tonight it didn’t go our way.”
He further said, “We have performed better this time than the last (ODI) World Cup in November and we have to go step by step and hopefully we will learn from today, the batsmen have certainly learnt from it.”
“What it takes to play international cricket and play against a bowling side like South Africa on a pitch that is perhaps not conducive to high scoring runs and finding ways to win games… we couldn’t find a way today.”
He added, “The pitch here was not what we wanted to play in a World Cup semi-final.”
In this context, Afghanistan’s performance makes it clear that they have been able to make a mark in this World Cup, although today’s defeat is also a lesson for them. They will move forward and work on their shortcomings and prepare for a better performance in the coming matches.
Similarly, South Africa executed their plans successfully with their good bowling and excellent efficiency in this match. They are firmly set to advance to the semi-finals after this win.
During this World Cup, Afghanistan has made their presence felt in the cricketing world with their brilliant performances and they deserve a salute for this achievement.
Going forward, they will be motivated to perform even better in their field.
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