(Credit IPL)
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has strongly criticized the pitch at the Brian Lara Academy in Trinidad where the first semi-final between South Africa and Afghanistan took place. Afghanistan’s dismal performance, getting bowled out for just 56 runs with several players scoring very few or no runs at all, has raised serious concerns about the pitch’s suitability. Chopra expressed these concerns in his recent video on YouTube, attributing Afghanistan’s defeat primarily to the challenging conditions of the pitch rather than solely to South Africa’s bowling strength, which he acknowledged as competent.
“If it’s a semi-final game and a team gets out for 56, it means there was something in the pitch, whether it was Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje or Tabraiz Shamsi. Only one person reached double figures, that was Azmatullah Omarzai, and you couldn’t have fought with 56. The ball was moving, going fast, left-right and up-down. What sort of tournament is this?” Aakash Chopra said.
Chopra also commented on the pitch conditions in Guyana, noting that there was excessive spin available. He remarked that while it’s somewhat expected for pitches in New York to be under-prepared due to them being drop-in pitches, the pitches in the Caribbean should ideally have been of higher quality.
“If the pitches are not proper, how can cricket be good? The pitch was not good in New York. It’s still okay as it was a drop-in and a new pitch. The ball was turning so much in Guyana, where teams were getting out for 75, and here the team was bowled out for 103,” Chopra elaborated.
Further criticizing the Trinidad track, he termed the pitch as a “third-class” track.
Trinidad Was A Third-Class Track: Aakash Chopra
“Everyone said the New York pitch is bad. Did anyone see the Tarouba pitch? It’s seriously a third-class pitch and I had tweeted this on the 14th that you are focussing on New York and someone should look there as well. Some balls were going along the pitch and some were hitting the head. What are you doing? That’s why we said Afghanistan had very little chance when we were previewing that game because facing fast bowling was going to be very difficult on this pitch and the fast bowlers who have height would destroy you, and that’s exactly how it happened,” Chopra explained.
He concluded by discussing the scheduling of the two semi-finals. Chopra highlighted that the first semi-final commenced at 6 am IST, while the second extended until 1:30 am IST due to rain delays. The second semi-final also experienced interruptions, including a rain break during India’s innings right after the powerplay.
In the context of the tournament, this marks South Africa’s inaugural appearance in a World Cup semi-final across ICC events, having won all eight of their matches thus far. For India, this is their third T20 World Cup final. Their last appearance in a T20 World Cup final was against Sri Lanka in 2014. Following their Champions Trophy victory in 2013 and their subsequent defeat in the ICC World Cup 2023 final, Team India has faced setbacks in approximately 10 ICC semi-finals or final matches. This final presents an opportunity for them to break their title drought.
