Afghanistan coach Trott reflects on tactical missteps against India

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott was disappointed with his batters’ shot selection in their defeat to India in Thursday’s T20 World Cup Super Eight match, saying they had failed to carry out their plans to face Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah was once again almost unplayable, with India’s pace spearhead claiming three Afghan wickets and conceding just seven runs in four immaculate overs at Kensington Oval.

Bumrah deceived Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Afghanistan’s top scorer in the tournament, with a clever change of pace and beat the other opener, Hazratullah Zazai, with an off-cutter that gave him a lead at point. “Apparently disappointed with a few shots or the decision-making,” Trott said after their 47-point loss in the Group 1 match.

“It’s clear that Bumrah is going to be an important bowler for any team. For India he is crucial and we needed to play him better. His numbers suggest we didn’t play him that well. We had clearly talked about it and how we were going play him. So we weren’t able to do that and yes, that’s very disappointing.”

India posted a strong 181-1 on Suryakumar Yadav’s second successive half-century. Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan, also their main bowler, completed his quota with the 14th over and India milked 66 runs from the last six overs.

However, Trott backed Rashid’s decision to exhaust his overs so early, saying other bowlers should have stepped up. “If you bowl three for 26, no matter when you bowl, I think you’ve done a good job,” Trott said of Rashid.

“It’s not just one bowler. Other people have to bowl the 16 other overs that need to be bowled, and it’s the responsibility of other bowlers to be able to execute the plans we’ve put in place… “I thought Rash was brilliant today bowled. He has high expectations of himself and he lived up to that today. Everyone else could follow suit. That would be great.”

Afghanistan will play Australia in Kingstown on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)