Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan’s head coach, has conceded that they lacked awareness of the calculations, leading to their exclusion from the Super 4 stage in the 2023 Asia Cup. Trott disclosed that they were never informed of the precise calculations. Afghanistan missed out on the Super 4 by a narrow margin, falling six runs short and ultimately losing to Sri Lanka by two runs.
In the 37th over, their score was 289-8, requiring three runs off the final ball to surpass Sri Lanka’s net run-rate. Afghanistan still had a chance if they had reached 293 after 37.2 overs, 294 after 37.3, 295 after 37.5, 296 after 38 overs, or 297 after 38.1. During the post-match press conference, the ex-English cricketer mentioned that they were only notified about achieving the target in the 37.1st over.
“We were never communicated those calculations,” he said. “All we were communicated was we needed to win in 37.1 overs. We weren’t told what the overs in which we could get 295 or 297. [That we could win in] 38.1 overs was never communicated to us.”
Fazalhaq Farooqi, the number 11 batsman, had the opportunity to meet the mentioned targets if he had managed to hit a boundary on the second ball of the 38th over or a six in the following two or three deliveries. However, he chose to defend two deliveries from Dhananjaya de Silva and was dismissed lbw while attempting to play another dot ball.
“We got some things horribly wrong” – Jonathan Trott
Trott declined to attribute their loss solely to this factor and believed that they committed several other errors. The 42-year-old went on to say:
“I don’t think there’s one reason we lost the game. There are areas of the game we could have done better [in] and that goes for today’s game and the one against Bangladesh. We got some things horribly wrong in a few areas and it’s cost us. It’d be nice if we’d bowled them out a bit cheaper. But it wasn’t to be.”
Mohammad Nabi delivered a vital boost to Afghanistan’s innings in the middle, posting a brisk 65 runs from just 32 deliveries, featuring six boundaries and five powerful sixes.
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