Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott was proud of his side’s landmark World Cup victory over Sri Lanka, hailing a team who no longer “rock up and it’s left to luck.”
Monday’s seven-wicket defeat of the 1996 champions in Pune followed Afghanistan’s eight-wicket win over Pakistan.
Victory also meant Afghanistan, who had already beaten defending champions England, had won back-to-back matches at the World Cup for the first time.
Photo: AFP
Afghanistan have six points and sit in fifth place in the table, two behind New Zealand and Australia with the top four guaranteed to make the semi-finals.
It is an impressive feat for a team that had won just one game — against non-Test nation Scotland — at their two World Cups prior to this edition.
“There’s such an amount of talent, and we’ve just given a bit of structure, a bit of a game-plan, understanding what makes them the best players that they can be,” Trott said. “And so, when it comes to match-day, it’s not just sort of rock up and it’s left to luck.”
“But I say to the players, the beauty of cricket is if you’re playing well, the challenge then is to back it up the next game... The challenge for us is going to be able to start again against the Netherlands,” the former England batsman added.
Afghanistan’s run-chases in their past two wins have seen them bat with the composure that was a hallmark of Trott’s career.
Set 242 against Sri Lanka, they overcame the loss of opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a fourth-ball duck before Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (58 not out) and Azmatullah Omarzai (73 not out) settled any lingering nerves with an unbroken stand of 111.
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