'We Are Lucky Mujeeb Ur Rahman Hasn't Got A Serious Injury': Afghanistan Coach Furious Over Dharamsala Outfield

Afghanistan head coach and former England cricketer Jonathan Trott has slammed the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) for dishing out a sub-standard outfield in their opening ICC World Cup 2023 game against Bangladesh on Saturday.

Trott gave Mujeeb Ur Rahman's example after the Afghan spinner injured his knee while trying to stop a boundary during Bangladesh's run chase.

His knee dug into the outfield as he made a slide to stop the ball from touching the fence. He was taken off the field for treatment after the incident.

Netizens later took to social media to highlight the issue of the outfield in Dharamsala, which hosted its first World Cup match.

An India vs Australia Test was moved away from Dharamsala due to the condition of the outfield earlier this year, and it doesn't seem to have got much better since.

Trott also criticised the officials and pointed that Mujeeb could have suffered a terrible injury at the very start of their campaign.

"We are lucky Mujeeb Ur Rahman hasn't got a serious knee injury," Trott said after Afghanistan's 6-wicket defeat against Bangladesh.

Money not well spent by BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has spent crores of rupees to revamp and modify all the World Cup venues before the tournament began but it seems like issues such as the quality of the outfield and seats at the stadiums persists.

Last week, fans pointed out the poor quality and condition of the seats at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, which hosted the second game between Pakistan and the Netherlands on Friday.

Pictures and a video of the dilapidated seats went viral on social media, slamming the Indian cricket board over the lack of arrangement made by them for the fans who were already complaining about the delays in tickets sales, their high prices and constant schedule changes which affected their itinerary.