New Delhi: England cricket team, touted as one of the favourites to win the ICC Champions Trophy, let their fans down with a humiliating eight-wicket loss against Pakistan in the first semi-final of the tournament.
While the cricket fraternity was bowled over by Pakistan's performance, England skipper Eoin Morgan was of the view that it was because of a used pitch that The Three Lions were deprived of any home advantage.
"I don`t think there was any home advantage. We knew that we were going to play on a used wicket at some stage in this tournament, and we found out the other day that today was going to be on a used wicket," Morgan had said.
The left-hander's comment didn't go down too well with former Pakistani pacer Waqar Younis, who took to Twitter to slam Morgan.
"Stop giving that lame excuse Eoin Morgan regarding the used pitch. You guys have been thrashed fair and square by Pakistan," he said.
Stop giving that lame excuse Eoin Morgan regarding the used pitch,,,,You guys been thrashed fair n square by Pakistan #CT2017 #PakvsEng
— waqar younis (@waqyounis99) June 14, 2017
However, Morgan did give credit to the Pakistan bowlers for restricting England to 211 in 49.5 overs.
When he was asked as to how Pakistan managed to score on the same surface that England had managed just 211, Morgan said, "I think the explanation is they played two days ago on it."
Sophia Gardens is one of the three venues that was agreed to use by the ICC and Galmorgans for the 15 matches at this tournament, along with Edgbaston and The Oval.
Though England played three of its Group A matches on new pitches, the pitches allocated to Sophia Gardens had all been used once each during the group stage meaning their semi-final had to be played on a used surface.
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed had no qualms about the pitch and was more than happy at his team`s progression towards their first final at a major ODI event since 1999 World Cup.
"I think the pitch was very good. It was good for both teams," he said."I think we played very good. That`s why we won today," he added.
Pakistan will be closely watching today`s second semi-final as India is going to clash with Bangladesh at Birmingham.
(With ANI inputs)
