Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott applauded his side’s ability to put dominant opposition under pressure and get the best out of them. Notably, Afghanistan had a great 2023 ODI World Cup campaign where they won four matches in the league stages to secure qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy as well. Moreover, Afghanistan defeated heavyweights like Pakistan and England and almost beat the eventual champions, Australia.
They were reduced to 91-7 in the 19th over while chasing the 292-run target set by Afghanistan as well. Afghanistan were too close towards a famous win at the Wankhede Stadium, but a historic double hundred by Glenn Maxwell helped Australia chase down the total with more than three overs to spare as well. Talking about that in an interview with ESPN Cricinfo, Trott said,
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“The Australia game was tough and we saw something very, very special from Maxwell to beat us. If people are going to have to play like that to beat us, then as long as we are doing as much as we can, you can’t complain too much. But I still complain a little bit! I think it was just the perfect game for us, with the way we bowled with the new ball, and with how the spinners bowled obviously. The win – and the manner in which they won what was only their second victory in a World Cup ever – gave the players a huge amount of confidence.”
However, Afghanistan were in the race to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. But their hopes ended with their defeat to Australia as well as New Zealand’s triumph against Sri Lanka as well. Afghanistan’s growth is evident just by the comparison of their recent World Cup campaigns as well. They had won only one match collectively across the 2015 and 2019 World Cup events but won four in the 2023 edition as well.
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“I would just like to see them building on the success of this World Cup. Stage by stage getting better and more competitive. I know from now that Afghanistan is not going to be seen as [just another] match, they are going to be seen as a competitor and are never going to be taken lightly,” Jonathan Trott concluded. “The one thing I would say is, we need to make sure that we start the T20 World Cup having taken the positives from what we learned [during the ODI World Cup], and deal with the pressure and the anticipation. Oppositions are going to be more ready for us. They’re going [to] be more wary, and they’re going to expect us to play better cricket.”
