NEW DELHI: Former England captain
Michael Vaughan
has raised concerns about potential scheduling disadvantages impacting Afghanistan's performance in their
T20 World Cup
semifinal loss to South Africa. Taking to 'X' (formerly Twitter), the former England captain blamed Afghanistan's semi-final defeat to South Africa on on biased T20 World Cup schedule favouring India.
In the first semi-final on Wednesday, Afghanistan's cricket team was dismissed for a mere 56 runs, with South Africa's bowlers, notably Kagiso Rabada,
Marco Jansen
, and
Tabraiz Shamsi
, exploiting the conditions effectively during the powerplay and spin overs.
T20 WORLD CUP: SCHEDULE
With Afghanistan tasting failure in their first World Cup semi-final experience, South Africa managed to break a sequence of unsuccessful attempts in the World Cup semifinals, securing a spot in the final against either India or England.
Vaughan pointed out 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," posted Vaughan on 'X'.
Additionally, Vaughan criticized the scheduling of the
semifinal
matches, arguing that the planning seemed to favour Indian viewership timings, potentially at the expense of fairness to other participating teams.
"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," says another post.
Criticising India's schedule in this T20 World cup, he wrote, "They haven’t played one game in the evening at the WC."
The ongoing ICC T20 World Cup has set the stage for a highly anticipated rematch between India and England on Thursday after the former's huge defeat to the latter in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final. That match saw England secure a commanding victory, prompting a strategic shift in India's approach to T20 cricket.
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