Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott expressed his concerns regarding the state of the outfield at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala following Afghanistan’s World Cup opener loss against Bangladesh. Players from Afghanistan and Bangladesh tumbled several times while fielding on Saturday.
Afghanistan were poor with the bat against Bangladesh as they found no clue against the Bangladesh spinners and were bowled out for a low score of 156 runs in just 37.2 overs.
Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz put on a promising opening partnership of 47 runs, but Afghanistan’s batting order collapsed under pressure from the Bangladeshi bowlers in the middle overs, setting below par total in the game.
Speaking to the media, Jonathan Trott wasn’t too pleased with the outfield in Dharamshala as he feels that their primary spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman was fortunate to escape the harm following such a fall during Saturday’s World Cup encounter against Bangladesh.
“I just think if you’ve got players unsure of whether they can dive…when you’ve got players worried about getting injured, I mean, we’re lucky Mujeeb hasn’t got a serious knee injury, So, something for them to look at. But I’m definitely not putting any blame on that (for defeat), but that’s something to keep an eye on for the future,” Jonathan Trott said
Rahmanullah Gurbaz led Afghanistan’s scoring with a 62-ball 47, but his efforts fell short of establishing a competitive total for the team in the opening game and the players in the middle order, including Hashmatullah Shahidi and Mohammad Nabi, failed to make a telling contribution for the team against the quality Bangladesh attack.
I Know The Boys Will Be Really, Really Up For It – Jonathan Trott
Jonathan Trott admitted that it was a tough loss against Bangladesh and wants to improve in the coming games against India and defending champions England and reckons that the team would look to put this performance behind to play India on October 11th.
“We know the areas to improve. We’ve got two big games in Delhi now against India and then England. So, we’ve got to dust ourselves off. A couple of practices and then a big match against India, which is going to be a great spectacle. I know the boys will be really, really up for it,” Jonathan Trott added.
With three wickets each, Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz set up the victory for their team against Afghanistan and The Shakib al Hasan-led side easily chased down the total, winning the game by six wickets with 15.2 overs remaining in the match.
