daniel chigunwe
Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott believes that their net-run-rate-boosting win against Uganda will stand them in good stead in Group C, which also includes co-hosts West Indies and New Zealand.
Afghanistan started their campaign with a 125-run demolition of World Cup debutants Uganda, Fazalhaq Farooqi leading the way with figures of 5 for 9.
Their NRR is currently 6.25.
“I think in a tight group with the quality of sides, net run-rate may play its part,” Trott said after the game.
“I don’t worry too much about the weather and the rain, and that’s up to the cricketing gods. But I think it’s more of a confidence boost the way that we played and finished off the game as well.
“I think Fazal (Farooqi) bowled really well, and helped the whole team. So that’s pleasing,” he said.
It was the opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran that set the tone for victory with a 154-run partnership — the second-highest for the first wicket in the men’s T20 World Cup.
Though Ibrahim’s dismissal triggered a collapse of 5 for 29 in the end overs and slowed Afghanistan down — they didn’t score a single boundary in the last six overs of their innings — their 183 for 5 proved too much for Uganda.
“I think obviously our opening partnership was really good and set a great platform,” Trott said.
“I think, obviously, we didn’t capitalise on it as much as we could and that’s something we need to work on going forward. The exciting thing is there’s still things we can do better and as a coach that’s obviously the challenge for the players but also exciting for us if we can get that right.
“I think coming into the tournament and starting on these wickets, especially against a slightly older ball, is a little bit tricky.
“So, we have got to get better at that. We only scored 30-odd in the last six overs and with the platform we had, we should have done a bit better. We shuffled the order a little bit, and maybe that’s our fault a little bit, as coaches, decision making, mixing the order up a little bit left-right hand . . .
“We want to look at that, and hopefully get that right next game. There’s always areas to improve. Fielding, bowling, death bowling, variations, boundary hitting. So we’re looking to improve the whole time,” he said.
Farooqi warmed the bench at Sunrisers Hyderabad throughout IPL 2024, but he hit the ground running in his first T20I for Afghanistan in this World Cup, bagging his first five-for in the format. — Cricinfo.
Online Reporter