Afghanistan suffered a tragic heartbreak on Tuesday, September 5 as they lost to Sri Lanka by a margin of two runs in the ongoing Asia Cup but more importantly, missed an opportunity to qualify for the Super 4 of the ongoing tournament due to a tactical blunder. Afghanistan needed to chase the target - 292 down in 37.1 overs and managed to reach 289 for the loss of eight wickets at the end of 36 overs.
Thinking that they just had a single delivery to score the remaining three runs, Mujeeb Ur Rahaman went for a lofted shot off Dhananjaya de Silva but could only find Sadeera Samarawickrama patrolling at long on. Mujeeb's wicket felt like the end of Afghanistan's road in the continental tournament to many including the Afghan players but that wasn't the case. The Hasmatullah Shahidi-led side was still in contention to make it to Super 4 had they hit a six in the next three deliveries. Seemingly unaware of the same, Fazalhaq Farooqi who replaced Mujeeb in the middle blocked the next two deliveries off Dhananjaya before being adjudged plumb in front of the stumps after being pinned on the back leg.
A tactical blunder clearly cost Afghans a place in the Super 4 and more game time to prepare well for the upcoming ODI World Cup in India. Afghanistan's head coach Jonathan Trott spoke during the post-match press conference that the team was not made aware of the NRR (Net Run Rate) permutations.
"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," he said.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's tactical gaffe triggered a wide array of reactions on 'X' formerly Twitter as netizens expressed their thoughts on a fascinating encounter.
