Afghanistan‘s head coach Jonathan Trott is overjoyed with his team’s fighting win over England to stay alive in the ICC Champions Trophy, saying that his team is “never going to be taken lightly” by any opponent now.
Afghanistan’s eight-run win dumped England out of the tournament, as Ibrahim Zadran led the batting show with a record knock of 177 and pacer Azmatullah Omarzai starred with a five-wicket spell.
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“I think certainly what happened in the World Cup, T20 World Cup, and I say this to the players as well, that Afghanistan’s never going to be taken lightly ever again,” Trott said at the post-match press conference, pointing at his team’s famous wins over the big guns.
Afghanistan have another big challenge coming their way against the ODI world champions Australia, who they must beat to progress to the semifinals.
“Since I’ve been coach, we have played against Australia three times and we’ve been in the game each of those games. So we should take a lot of confidence from that,” said the coach.
“I see every game that we play is going to be competitive and every game we go into I expect to win. Australia aren’t going to take us lightly,” the Englishman added.
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Trott’s guidance has taken Afghanistan to a different level in international cricket, but he credited it to the players’ self-belief and never-say-die attitude.
“We saw Ibrahim, the way that he’s done today (Wednesday); we’ve seen (Rahmanullah) Gurbaz do it in the past…We have Gulbadin (Naib) at eight at the moment, who can come in and change games,” he added. “So that self-belief is important and it starts within, but it’s also quite infectious and it spreads within the squad.”
Currently at two points, Afghanistan are just a point adrift from South Africa and Australia currently. A win over the Aussies will take them to four points and confirm their presence in the semis. But a defeat will bring curtains down on Afghanistan’s campaign.
“In the past, perhaps, people would have seen the fixture and thought it (playing Afghanistan) was a little bit easier than playing a historic Test nation. But in this format, in these conditions, I don’t see that,” the former England batter reckoned.
“I’m going to make sure they enjoy tonight (Wednesday), but wake up tomorrow ready for Australia. Hopefully Friday will be a massive sell out and people will turn up or take the day off work and come and watch us from 2 o’clock onwards. I think it’s great for the guys,” Trott concluded.
