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Can Trott’s Afghanistan stun England?
AGENCIES
Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott admitted Saturday that his team “get it 70-80% right” but need to find an extra gear quickly if they are to end a demoralising run of 14 successive World Cup defeats.
Afghanistan have so far suffered convincing losses to Bangladesh and India at the tournament.
They lost all nine matches at the 2019 World Cup while winning just one against Scotland in their 2015 debut.
It doesn’t get easier for Afghanistan who tackle defending champions England in New Delhi on Sunday.
“At times we get 70-80% of it right, but the other 20-30% that we don’t get right really ends up costing us,” said Trott, a former England international batsman.
“Starting the game well is going to be crucial against a very strong England side.
“But going forward for the rest of the competition as well, we need to start better with bat and ball and set the standard of how we want to play our cricket.”
Against India, eight Afghanistan batters reached double figures with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi making 80 and Azmatullah Omarzai 62 in a total of 272.
But India coasted to an eight-wicket win with spin wizard Rashid Khan claiming both victims.
In the opener against Bangladesh, it was the batting which eventually misfired as Afghanistan collapsed from 83-1 to 156 all out in a six-wicket loss.
Trott backed Rashid to play a key role in Sunday’s game. The leg-spinner, a mainstay of Twenty20 franchise cricket around the world, has just two wickets from two games for the cost of 105 runs.
He has 174 ODI wickets in his career but managed only six at the 2019 World Cup.
Against England at Old Trafford, he went 0-110 as his team were routed by 150 runs.
“Rashid, can’t speak highly enough about the guy, the way that he performs and his passion for playing for this side,” said Trott.
England, on the other hand, will be at ease as they have created some breathing space following their 137-run rout of Bangladesh after going down in a nine-wicket loss against New Zealand in their opening fixture.
Ben Stokes is likely to miss out today’s game as England look to delay his return from a hip injury until next week’s marquee clash against South Africa. The 32-year-old, who missed games against New Zealand and Bangladesh, took part in training on Friday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi meaning a cannot be entirely ruled out.
England captain Jos Buttler may look to shuffle his pace options by bringing in David Willey or Gus Atkinson to spread out the workload.