It always hurts when you lose games like this, says Jonathan Trott on Afghanistan’s exit

Tarouba: After Afghanistan’s incredible run in the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup ended in a heavy nine-wicket defeat in the first semifinal to South Africa, head coach Jonathan Trott said the side is hurting over the manner in which it lost the game.

At the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Trinidad, Afghanistan were bowled out for just 56 in 11.5 overs after electing to bat first. In reply, South Africa chased down the total in 8.5 overs to enter the title clash at Barbados on Sunday, where they will face either India or defending champions England.

“Whenever you lose a game like this, it’s always going to hurt, and it should hurt because we put so much into it. The sacrifices made by the players, coaching staff, management, officials all that sort of stuff. It hurts at the moment.”

“We arrived to the ground in high spirits ready to take on a strong South African side and make sure we gave a good account of ourselves, and I feel like we haven’t done that today. That’s the most disappointing thing,” said Trott in the post-match press conference.

At the same time, he felt Afghanistan’s performances in the tournament, where they beat sides like New Zealand, Australia and Bangladesh to enter the semi-finals for the first time. “I’m very proud of the guys; this one performance doesn’t necessarily define the tournament.”

“But it also gives us an indication of where we need to work on and what we need to get better at. If we’re going to be competitive more consistently, and who we can rely on with the bat and who’s going to get us over the line, certainly if we have to chase.”

Asked what gaps were to be filled in making Afghanistan a better T20I unit, Trott threw light on having more stable batters in their line-up, citing their over-dependability on openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran in this competition.

“We need to get more batters in who are going to score runs and be more consistent like the openers have been and give us a chance in games. So that’s the project for going forward. Certainly, in all formats as well, 50-over white-ball cricket as well, getting middle-order batters and top-order batters like we have at the (top) with Ibrahim and Gurbaz.”

“So that’s the focus for now. We’ve got to find batters who can bat in the middle order in T20 cricket. I have an idea of who they are and the players that are going to be doing that. So, we’ll be working really hard in the short term to get those players in playing T20 cricket and ODI cricket,” he added.

Trott admitted the quick turnaround in Afghanistan playing a thrilling Super Eight stage game against Bangladesh to turning out in the semi-final against South Africa was less than ideal but didn’t use that as an excuse for them going down in the semifinals.

“Obviously playing the last group game and then playing the first semifinal with travel yesterday and getting here and not really having a day off isn’t ideal. But we knew the schedule, so that’s not an excuse as such.”

“When you go on in World Cups or tournaments, you can’t have everything your own way, and you’ve got to fight and play against the odds which you’ve done at times and very proud of that but no, it’s not the reason why we didn’t win today.”

“We only got back to the hotel at 3 am, and then we had to leave (for Trinidad) at 8 am. We didn’t get much sleep, so the guys were obviously very tired and had a lot to process really emotionally and physically. So all new territory for the guys and it all plays its part in a way, but we were outplayed today. The guys will hopefully learn from this experience.”

“We’ve gone one better than the previous 50-over World Cup in November, and it’s just about taking it step by step, and hopefully we learn from today, the batters certainly (about) what it takes to play international cricket and play against a bowling side like South Africa on a pitch that’s perhaps not conducive to high scoring, finding ways of winning games. And we’ve found ways of winning games, we just couldn’t find a way today,” he concluded. IANS

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