Waqar dubs Morgan's pitch criticism as 'lame excuse'

Eoin Morgan's comment on Cardiff pitch, post England's defeat in the Champions Trophy semi-finals, seems to have not gone down well with Pakistan legendary bowler Waqar Younis as he slammed the England skipper for making a "lame excuse".

In the post match presentation, Morgan insisted that the pitch used for his side's eight-wicket defeat at Sophia Gardens cancelled out the home advantage as the same pitch was used for Pakistan-Sri Lanka clash last Monday.

Slamming Morgan, Younis took to his Twitter account to criticise him.

"Stop giving that lame excuse Eoin Morgan regarding the used pitch. You guys have been thrashed fair and square by Pakistan," he said.

However, Morgan did give credit to the Pakistan bowlers for restricting England to 211 in 49.5 overs.

"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.

"I think going into today's game knowing that we were going to play on a used wicket potentially brought Pakistan's game closer to their home. So it was a big challenge and one that was too far for us," he added.

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.