Afghanistan’s head coach, Jonathan Trott, expressed disappointment and revealed a lack of communication regarding the required run rate during their heartbreaking two-run defeat to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup match. Afghanistan needed to chase down a target of 292 runs in 37.1 overs to qualify for the Super Four stage. However, they found themselves at 289/8 at the end of the 37th over, needing three runs off a single delivery to secure a Super Four berth.
What the Afghan batters didn’t know was that they had until the end of the 38th over to reach 297, which would have secured them a spot in the next stage based on net run rate. Unfortunately, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Fazalhaq Farooqui were unaware of this, and no information or messages were relayed to them. Consequently, Afghanistan suffered a painful defeat as they were unable to exploit the various possibilities available to them.
Trott expressed frustration, stating that they were only told they needed to win in 37.1 overs, and the overs in which they could reach 295 or 297 were not communicated to them.
While Afghanistan’s chase was ignited by Mohammad Nabi’s explosive innings, Trott acknowledged that there were various areas in which the team could have performed better and attributed the loss to a combination of factors. Despite the defeat, he highlighted the positives from Afghanistan’s performance in the tournament.
“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 eve after) 38.1 overs was never communicated to us.”
