Asia Cup 2023, SL vs AFG: How a misstep with the Net Run Rate ...

Afghanistan were close to securing their spot in the Super 4s of the Asia Cup 2023 with an incredible run chase against Sri Lanka, which they almost pulled off. However, a miscalculation with the Net Run Rate led to their elimination from the tournament.

Afghanistan were left ruing the mistake they made with the Net Run Rate

The Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan match was supposed to be a clear-cut affair in terms of what was at stake.

The Sri Lankan team needed a win to top the group and go into the Super 4 stages, having beaten Bangladesh in their earlier fixture. For Afghanistan, well, they had their work cut out. A win by a big margin was needed.

Now, when Sri Lanka decided to bat first and posted 291 in their 50 overs, the work of the analysts in the Afghan camp was well and truly underway.

Afghanistan was tasked with chasing down a target of 292 runs in 37.1 overs against Sri Lanka. This was a do-or-die league game where the outcome would determine which team would edge out on net run rate. However, Afghanistan's head coach, Jonathan Trott, admitted that his team was unaware of the specific NRR permutations. The only information communicated to them was that they needed to win within 37.1 overs. But that wasn't the case.

After some incredible batting from Mohammed Nabi and others, Afghanistan reached close to the target but wickets were a concern.

But the lack of clarity regarding the net run-rate led to a heartbreaking situation for Afghanistan. At the end of the 37th over, Afghanistan was at 289 for 8, needing three runs off one ball to win while bettering Sri Lanka's NRR. Unfortunately, Mujeeb Ur Rahman was caught on the long-on boundary, leading to a belief that Afghanistan had lost their chance.

Fazel Farooqi decided to see off a couple of deliveries before he was dismissed as Sri Lanka clinched the win by 2 runs. However, the information supplied was wrong as Afghanistan could still have qualified for the Super 4s if they were to get their score up to 295 in 37.5 overs. This meant that Afghanistan needed a single six and they had Rashid Khan at the other end. But incredibly, it appeared this wasn't communicated to the Afghan players.

Trott stated that the match officials had not informed his team of the finer NRR permutations.

"All we were communicated was we needed to win in 37.1 overs. We weren't told what the overs in which we could get 295 or 297. [That we could win in] 38.1 overs was never communicated to us."

So what led to this whole confusion? Well, for that, we will need to take deep dive into what the NRR system means.

Net Run Rate (NRR) has become the preferred statistical method in multi-team tournaments across the globe to break a draw when it comes to points. We have seen that in the IPL as recently as this season.

The system is often misunderstood, but really quite simple to understand, something the Afghanistan camp missed.

Asia Cup 2023 table

According to ESPN Cricinfo,

"A team's net run rate is calculated by deducting from the average runs per over scored by that team throughout the competition, the average runs per over scored against that team throughout the competition."

"In the event of a team being all out in less than its full quota of overs, the calculation of its net run rate shall be based on the full quota of overs to which it would have been entitled and not on the number of overs in which the team was dismissed."

If a team batting second wins the game, then the overs faced will be taken into consideration rather than the entitled ones.

This incident highlights the importance of clear communication and understanding of the rules and regulations in sports. While NRR calculations are usually straightforward and typically handled by analysts, the lack of clear communication in this instance led to a missed opportunity for Afghanistan.