Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India]: Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott has emphasized on overall team performance rather than expecting spinners to do the job for them in every game.
Afghanistan have had a fair amount of issues in the ongoing World Cup, from dropping four catches in New Zealand’s clash to succumbing to a total of 156 against Bangladesh.
They managed to pull off an all-round performance against England, which marked their sole victory out of the first four games. As the need to win each and every game arises to stay alive in the tournament, Trott has demanded team effort irrespective of the conditions that they play in ahead of the Pakistan clash on Monday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
“The thing is – with spinners, there are only two or three of them playing a game. And it’s the other eight as well that have to play the game so that’s important. So, it’s everybody’s job it’s not just the spinners job to win games.
There’s batsmen who’ve got to put runs on the board or batsmen who’ve got to chase down a total. So yes, the spinners are important and getting our selection is key for the fixture but it’s a team effort.
There’s no reliance on just spinners. There’s seam bowlers as well who’ve got to bowl well and bowl well in whatever conditions we’re confronted with,” Trott said in the pre-match press conference.
Afghanistan is renowned for its exceptional spinners, especially Rashid Khan who continues to rise in the record books. But during this World Cup, he has failed to work his charm as he continues to go through a dry patch. But Trott once again brought the mindset of a team game rather than spinners lack of performance.
“The pitch obviously, I’m not sure. Chennai is normally a good wicket. So, with regards to the mindset, it’s important, as I said, the mindset we have there is that it’s a team game.
It’s not just a spinners game they play. There are seamers and there are fielders as well. So, everybody’s got to put in a good team performance if we want to beat the likes of a strong side like Pakistan.
But we’ve had an ODI series against them recently where we should have won a few games. We didn’t. So hopefully we can put that right tomorrow night,” Trott added.
Afghanistan squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq.
Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim.
