In the thrilling Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka Asia Cup 2023 match held on Tuesday, Sri Lanka emerged victorious, defending a total of 291 runs against a determined Afghanistan side. Afghanistan attempted to chase down the target within 37 overs to secure a superior Net Run Rate (NRR) compared to Sri Lanka. However, the match took an unexpected turn.
As the 37 overs concluded, Afghanistan found themselves at 289 for 8. To qualify for the Super-4 stage, they needed three runs off just one ball while also improving their NRR beyond Sri Lanka’s. In a crucial moment, Mujeeb ur Rahman attempted a big hit off Dhananjaya de Silva’s delivery but was caught on the long-on boundary. Non-striker Rashid Khan thought their tournament journey had come to an end, sinking to his knees.
Later, it was revealed that Afghanistan could have surpassed Sri Lanka’s NRR if they had reached 293 after 37.2 overs, 294 after 37.3 overs, 295 after 37.5 overs, 296 after 38 overs, or 297 after 38.1 overs.
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Afghanistan’s head coach, Jonathan Trott, expressed disappointment, stating that his team had not been informed of these crucial conditions by the match officials.
“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.”
Trott declined to place sole blame on any single factor for Afghanistan’s exit from the Asia Cup 2023, emphasizing that there were multiple aspects that contributed to the team’s loss. He stated, “I don’t believe there’s a single reason behind our defeat. There were areas in today’s game and the one against Bangladesh where we could have performed better. We made significant errors in various aspects, and unfortunately, it has had consequences. It would have been better if we had managed to dismiss them at a lower score, but that wasn’t the case.”