With the seedings for Super 8 being pre-decided and India knowing their semi-final venue and schedule in advance, there have been questions raised on the ICC and the scheduling of the ongoing T20 World Cup being tilted heavily in India's favour so that the Men in Blue can go as far in the tournament as they can. However, with the Supers Eights playing out the way they did with the likes of West Indies and Australia failing to qualify for the semi-finals, the talks died down before the former England captain raised them again on Thursday (June 27) morning.
South Africa absolutely mauled Afghanistan after losing the toss with the ball on a tricky wicket at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, Trinidad bowling them out for just 56. The Proteas tracked the total down rather comfortably in the end. With the wicket staying up and down and seaming a bit against a pace attack featuring Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, it was always going to be too much for Afghanistan batters and they ended up losing the game and getting knocked out from semis.
As per the schedule, the team topping Group 1 was supposed to play the first semi-final, which meant that India vs England would have been in Trinidad and South Africa vs Afghanistan in Guyana. However, with India's semi-final being the second one in Guyana to suit the Indian Standard Time irrespective of where they finished, South Africa had to play the first semi-final and Afghanistan hence were handed a raw deal, which Vaughan question on Twitter (now X).
"Surely this Semi should have been the Guyana one .. but because the whole event is geared towards India it’s so unfair on others," Vaughan said. A couple of hours before the start of the game, Vaughan had questioned the schedule referring to Afghanistan's flight being delayed by fours hours and the short turnaround between the semi-final and their last Super 8 clash.
"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," Vaughan said in another post on X.
Eventually, it was South Africa who won a semi-final for the first time in men's senior World Cups and advanced to their maiden final in the hope of getting their hands on the elusive trophy. India play England on Thursday in the second semi-final in Guyana.
