Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has criticised the scheduling of the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2024.
In a post on X on Thursday, the former cricketer mentioned how the Afghanistan team could not practice or get accustomed to the new venue due to travel delays. Vaughan also alleged in another post that the T20 World Cup tournament was centred around India.
“Surely this Semi should have been the Guyana one… but because the whole event is geared towards India, it’s so unfair on others [sic],” Vaughan wrote on X.
Venting anger at ICC for the T20 World Cup management schedule, Vaughan wrote, “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… #T20WorldCup2024 [sic].”
In a series of posts on X, former England captain Michael Vaughan expressed his disappointment with scheduling the semifinal match between Afghanistan and South Africa and the second semifinal match between India and England. Vaughan blamed Afghanistan's loss against South Africa on the ICC's schedule, which, he charged, favoured India.
Vaughan said that Afghanistan had little time for preparation due to travel constraints and lack of practice before their crucial semi-final match against South Africa. In his X post, the former cricketer said that Afghanistan deserved a gap of one day to prepare for the game.
Vaughan said India should have played the first semifinal against England. However, the India vs England semifinal got the second date because, according to Vaughan, the 8 PM IST game was a prime time for viewers in India.
Earlier, Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma also raised concerns about the ICC's scheduling decisions. “The overhead conditions are in nobody's control; you don't know what will happen. The only thing I am worried about is if the game goes on till pretty late, we have a chartered flight, and we might miss that,” Rohit said about the India vs England match set to take place on Thursday, June 27.
Rohit Sharma-led India will play against England in the second semi-final at Providence Stadium in Guyana today. A win for India in today's match would end their 10-year wait to reach the final of the T20 World Cup. Their previous appearance was in 2014, when Sri Lanka took the title. England are the defending champions, having lifted their second T20 World Cup trophy in 2022 by defeating Pakistan.
