‘Geared towards India, unfair on others’: Michael Vaughan criticises semifinals schedule of T20 WC

New Delhi: Former England captain Michael Vaughan criticised the scheduling of the T20 World Cup semifinals, alleging that the whole tournament is planned to favour India and is “unfair” to other teams.

In the first semifinal of the tournament in Tarouba Thursday, South Africa outclassed Afghanistan by nine wickets to cruise to the finals, ending their historic campaign in the tournament.

Vaughan claimed that Afgahnistan’s final should have been scheduled in Guyana, where India will take on defending champions England later in the day.

“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 wrote on X.

Vaughan earlier stated that Afghanistan did not get enough time to prepare for their first-ever semi-final due to the flight delay and travelling.

“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” he posted on X.

Afghanistan batters faltered against Proteas’ formidable bowling attack led by pacers Marco Jansen (three wickets), Kagiso Rabada (two wickets) and Anrich Nortje (two wickets) while Tabraiz Shamsi returned with the figures of 3-6 in his 1.5 overs to bundle out Afghanistan for 56/10 in 11.5 overs.

In the chase, Reeza Hendricks (29*) and captain Aiden Markram (23*) steered their side to a convincing nine-wicket win to book a title clash with the winner of the second semi-final between India and England at Providence Stadium.

Unbeaten South Africa have the chance to lift their first limited-overs World Cup title in Bridgetown  Saturday, June 29 (IST).