Afghan Coach Trott: We Were Never Communicated With Those Calculations

Afghanistan could've overtaken Sri Lanka byꦚ NRR if they had reached 293 at 37.2 overs, 2꧑94 at 37.3, 295 at 37.5, 296 at 38 and 297 at 38.1.

PTI

Updated on: 6 September 2023 5:44 pm

Afghanistan Cricket Team Coach Jonathan Trott

Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott said that they weren't aware of the net run rate (NRR) permutations which might have worked in their favour during their last group clash against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup here.

Having lost to Bangladesh earlier in the Asia Cup match, Afghanistan faced a must-win scenario against Sri Lanka in their final group match on Tuesday.

Afghanistan needed to beat Sri Lanka by a superior net run rate to finish among the top-two sides in Group B and qualify for the Super 4 stage.

Sri Lanka batted first and scored 291 for eight in their allotted 50 overs.

While Afghanistan could've qualified if they got to the target of 292 in 37.1 overs, they were seemingly unaware of other favourable combinations, which would have kept their hopes alive till 38.1 overs.

Big hitting from the likes of Mohammed Nabi, and Hashmatullah Shahidi got Afghanistan to 289 for eight in 37 overs.

However, assuming that they needed three off the very next ball to overtake Sri Lanka by NRR, Mujeeb Ur Rahman lofted one to the deep and ended up losing his wicket.

The disappointment was writ large over Afghanistan players' faces.

Believing that they were already out of the competition, the No. 11, Fazalhaq Farooqi, tried to play out the over instead of rotating the strike to Rashid Khan. Off the fourth ball of the over, he was dismissed lbw while trying to play a defensive shot.

Afghanistan could've overtaken Sri Lanka by NRR if they had reached 293 at 37.2 overs, 294 at 37.3, 295 at 37.5, 296 at 38 and 297 at 38.1.

Afghanistan head coach Trott said that his team wasn't aware of the many NRR permutations.

"We were never communicated (with) those calculations," Trott said.

"All we were communicated, was (that) we needed to win in 37.1 overs.

"We weren't told what the overs in which wಞe could get (to) 295 or 297. That we could qualify t𝓰ill 38.1 overs was never communicated to us," he said.