Afghanistan in year 2023 has been looked upon the most improved Asian side in the white ball format of the game. Led by the effective management by former England batter Jonathan Trott who has the likes of Indian all rounder Ajay Jadeja as mentor for the team, Afghanistan has impressed all the cricket experts around the globe with their abilities to stun big teams in the world of cricket.
Jonathan Trott has been instrumental in guiding the Afghanistan team with constructive approaches in run chases or while bowling using his resources to the fullest. Be it their famous World Cup triumphs over England and Pakistan or a near upset to Australia in the marquee event which was only saved due to insane innings by Glenn Maxwell a pyrotechnic double hundred rarely seen in ODI cricket. But through the performances Afghanistan and Jonathan Trott made it clear that going forward Afghanistan would be a team to beat in cricket.
Afghanistan and its funny coincidences with ICC rules
Its not the first time that Afghanistan team was undone with confusion of the ICC Rules and Regulations as in the recently concluded Asia cup while chasing the target 289 within 38 overs were nearly on the winning track only to be undone by the confusion of the official scorers which resulted in their loss by just 2 runs and loosing the place in Top 4 of the series.
Similarly in the First Super Over of the recently concluded T20I, there was utter funny banters regarding the rules and confusion amongst players sparkled sparks amongst the players and the umpires. This continuous tryst with rules when comes to Afghanistan has bemused the likes of coach Jonathan Trott and he has been vocal about the same.
Jonathan Trott furious with ICC
Team India’s thrilling win over Afghanistan in the third T20I in Bengaluru on Wednesday, January 17 is a contest that will be remembered for ages to come. However, the latter stages of the match saw plenty of confusion, and even after its culmination, there are still a lot of questions that have not been completely answered.
A huge talking point from the Super Over came in the form of Rohit Sharma opting to ‘retiring’ himself ahead of the final delivery to introduce a quicker runner in the form of Rinku Singh. However, with the first super over being tied at the end as well, there was a pressing question over the Team India skipper’s eligibility to bat again.
Sharma eventually came out to bat again in the second Super Over and ended up scoring two boundaries off the first two balls. Even though India did not post a commanding target, leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi ended the contest with two wickets in three deliveries.
Jonathan Trott admitted that he was confused about the guidelines regarding players involved in the first super over being allowed to bat or bowl in the subsequent one. He added that there was no communication from officials regarding the same.
“I have no idea. Has there ever been two Super Overs? That’s what I am trying to say, it is sort of new. We keep setting these new sort of rules. What I am trying to say is we kept testing the rules, we kept testing the guidelines,” Trott said at the end of the third T20I in Bengaluru.
“It was not communicated. We wanted Azmat to bowl the second over again, Fareed bowled a great over. But those sort of things will be explained because it has happened, these things will be explained and done in writing in the future. If those are the rules, that’s great. I just think we had a good game, and I don’t think that should be the talking point,” he added.
The ICC guidelines state in 25.4.2 that ‘if a batter retires because of illness, injury or any other unavoidable cause, that batter is entitled to resume his/her innings. If for any reason this does not happen, that batter is to be recorded as ‘Retired – not out’.
With one of the greatest International T20I in the cricketing history already been witnessed across the globe , It is funny though how Afghanistan always finds themselves on the other sides of the table.