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Former England captain Michael Vaughan put the blame on alleged "India-centric" scheduling for Afghanistan's dissapointing show during the semifinals of the ICC T20 World Cup against South Africa.
The big match inexperience of Afghanistan was visible as their batting line-up folded for just 56 runs thanks to fiery spells from pacers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen in the powerplay and Tabraiz Shamsi's spin. Proteas, on the other hand, have overcome a seven-game winless streak in the semifinals of any ICC Cricket World Cup and are set to play either India or England in a historic final. During the semifinal clash, Vaughan pointed out that Afghanistan faced a flight delay while travelling to Trinidad, which gave players no time to put in hard yards in the nets and get used to a new venue, calling the situation as a "utter lack of respect to players". Afghanistan had reached the semifinals on Monday after defeating Bangladesh. "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," tweeted Vaughan. https://x.com/MichaelVaughan/status/1806129278582767648 As the wickets tumbled down, Vaughan once again tweeted that it was South Africa and Afghanistan that should have been playing in Guyana in a morning game, while India and England should have clashed in the first semifinal at night. He called the scheduling "geared towards India" and "unfair on others". "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 tweeted. https://x.com/MichaelVaughan/status/1806129278582767648 It will be a rematch of the semifinal from the 2022 edition of the tournament as a red-hot Team India will meet England in the second semifinal of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Guyana on Thursday. The last time these two nations faced off in a Men's T20 World Cup semi-final was just 19 months ago in Adelaide when a remarkable opening partnership between Jos Buttler and Alex Hales saw England cruise to 10 wicket win that forced a complete rethink in India's T20 strategy and move away from more established superstars to younger blood, from conservatism to aggression. This time around, India has more batting firepower led by experienced campaigners skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, more attacking options through the middle overs, and more variation in their attack, but the defending champions will take some beating, especially with skipper Jos Buttler and his new opening partner Phil Salt both in blistering form. In six matches, Bumrah has taken 11 wickets so far in the tournament at an average of 8.54 and an economy rate of just above 4. His best bowling figures are 3/7.England is just two games away from making history and becoming the first men's team to retain a T20 World Cup, as per the ICC. On the other hand, India has not won this tournament since its inception back in 2007, and is searching for its first World Cup win in any format since 2011's 50-over tournament. India's last ICC trophy was in 2013, when they captured the ICC Champions Trophy in England. India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj. England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood. (ANI)
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