Credit: Twitter
Afghanistan Head Coach Jonathan Trott opened up on the qualification scenario blunder that happened in the Afghanistan vs. Sri Lanka clash in Asia Cup 2023. Afghanistan, led by Hashmathullah Shahidi, failed to cruise past the group stage just by three runs due to a blunder in understanding the qualification scenario. Opening up on the same, Trott said that the match officials never communicated this to them.
Afghanistan's carelessness caused them the entire tournament, and the entire cricket fraternity slammed the team and management for the same. In the match that took place on September 5, Tuesday, Afghanistan fell short of three runs from their chase of 292 runs as they bundled out 289 runs. They needed to chase the 292-run target in 37.1 overs or had to score 295 in 37.5 overs to secure their berth in the Super Fours.
Addressing the media after the controversial match, the Afghanistan coach 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."
Talking about the performance of his side in the match, the former England batter said, "I don't think there's one reason we lost the game. There are areas of the game we could have done better 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."
Notably, with their loss, Sri Lanka joined Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India in Super Fours.
