Former England captain Michael Vaughan was left seething after Afghanistan’s T20 World Cup dream went up in flames on Thursday.
South Africa demolished Afghanistan in ruthless fashion during the first semi-final as the Proteas won by nine wickets with more than 11 overs to spare, reaching the final of the cricket showpiece for the first time.
However, Vaughan unloaded on social media as Afghanistan’s batting line-up fell apart, with the English icon taking aim at tournament organisers.
“So Afghanistan qualify 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,” he posted to Twitter.
As his tirade went on, Vaughan suggested the entire tournament was handing every possible advantage to help guide India towards victory.
“Surely this semi should have been the Guyana one … but because the whole event is geared towards India it’s so unfair on others,” he wrote in a separate tweet.
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Unlike the other nations competing in the tournament, all of India’s matches were scheduled at the same time, with the Asian powerhouse knowing the venue and date for their semi-final in advance.
The Super Eight groups were also given predetermined seedings to ensure that India’s fixtures aligned with prime time for south Asian broadcasters, meaning points and net run rate from the group stage had no bearing on the second part of the tournament.
“It’s their tournament, isn’t it? Literally, it’s their tournament,” Vaughan later told the Club Prairie Fire podcast ahead of Friday’s semi-final between India and England.
“They get to play whenever they want, they get to know exactly where their semi-final is.
“They play every single game in the morning so people can watch at night in India on the television.
“I get that. I get that money is a big play in the world of cricket, and I get that in bilateral series.
“But you would think that when you get to a World Cup that the ICC would be a little bit fairer to everybody.
“When you get to a World Cup, there cannot be any kind of sympathy or any kind of sway towards one team in the tournament, and this tournament is purely set up for India. Simple as that.”
India won Friday morning’s semi-final against England by 68 runs, qualifying for the Men’s T20 World Cup decider for the first time in ten years.
“India probably have got on paper the best team, so they don’t need to do anything,” Vaughan continued.
“They can win a night match. They don’t need to know that they’re playing in Guyana for a semi-final, which by the way it rain 24 days out of 30 in June.
“They’re already had six days of dryness, so it’s going to rain.
“Not in a World Cup, it’s got to be the same for everyone.”
The previous morning, South Africa made light work of the Afghanistan batting order as left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3 for 6) and gangling pacer Marco Jansen (3-16) spearheaded the rout.
Fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje maintained the relentless pressure with two wickets apiece at the Brian Lara Stadium.
On a surface which encouraged all bowlers but left Afghanistan with too little to defend, South Africa lost Quinton de Kock early in reply for Fazalhaq Farooqi’s tournament-leading 17th wicket.
But Reeza Hendricks (29 not out) and captain Aiden Markram (23 not out) saw them to victory at 60 for one off 8.5 overs to advance the Proteas to Saturday’s final in Barbados where they will face India.