dan08 wrote:The Professor wrote:Know it's a different medium but last night showed a HUGE gulf.
They were missing their two best batsmen to be fair...
That's true, Dan...and the excuses/reasons don't stop there.
Due to the Heat I really struggled to sleep last night so ended up listening to the West Indian commentary of this and even they flagged up some of the mitigating factors behind Afghanistan's performances.
One reason, as you have said, is the loss of the batsmen, especially Shahzad. You take out a batsman with a T20 average of 30+ out of an Associate team unexpectedly it will send them reeling.
Also the manner of arrival hasn't helped them at all. They have arrived under, what one commentator called "maximum jet lag." A majority of the team arrived together and did so where they left Pakistan at dusk and arrived in the West Indies still in the early hours of the same evening evening. This has meant that their body clock has been totally modded. This, however, can only be an excuse for so long - it would suggest by the One Day games, parity might ensue.
The pitch has been a huge factor in this too. For all of the criticism we give the West Indies, even their weakened side in this squad still have big batting skills. This is a hugely batting wicket. As I said above, Afghanistan have had the heart of their batting attack removed from them so it is already a huge advantage to the home team.