CT25 – Afg vs Eng – Jonathan Trott – Afghanistan will never be taken lightly again

Trott felt that collective body of work has permanently altered perceptions of Afghanistan’s cricket side. “What happened in the World Cup, T20 World Cup, and (now), I say this to the players: Afghanistan’s never going to be taken lightly ever again.

“In the past, perhaps people would have seen the fixture and thought it was a little bit easier than playing a historic Test nation. But in this format, in these conditions, I don’t see that. I see every game that we play is going to be competitive and every game we go into I expect to win. Australia aren’t going to take us lightly.”

That Trott’s focus has shifted immediately to Afghanistan’s final group game on Friday demonstrates his side is focused on the tournament as a whole and not just the odd upset win. The clash against England was an eliminator for both sides but crucially, not a qualifier. Afghanistan may have sent England home, but will join them on the plane if they lose against Australia.

“Since I’ve been coach we’ve played against Australia three times and we’ve been in the game each of those games,” Trott said. “I’ll tell the players to enjoy tonight. I’m going to make sure when they wake up tomorrow, they’re ready for Australia immediately. The focus is on Australia. That’s how the players are going to be and that’s what I’ll tell the fans.”

Fans weren’t in short supply. From the outset of the game, the stadium was bedecked in the colours of the Afghanistan flag. Lahore is home to a large Pashtun population, and Pakistan hosts the largest number of Afghan refugees anywhere in the world. They way a lot of these factors intersect is complicated, but the sentiment in the stadium was not. For one afternoon and evening, the Gaddafi Stadium was honorary Afghan territory, a level of support that did not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

“The atmosphere was really good,” Trott said. “It was really good for the players to experience some support because we normally always play in the UAE. Being in Pakistan, it’s really close to where they come from. Hopefully Friday will be a massive sellout and people will turn up or take the day off work and come and watch us from 2 o’clock onwards.

“I think it’s great for the guys. I think it’s a huge experience and these players will never forget nights like this. We’ve had a few other nights along the way in ICC events and series, and that will just add to the confidence that we should hopefully take in on Friday. It’s important we move on from tonight. When you wake up tomorrow morning, we don’t expect the game to be exactly like this and go our way. We need to start afresh and get on the front foot.”

This famous win has seen Trott’s Afghanistan scale yet another height in what has been a dizzying array of successes. Less than three years ago, when he was appointed coach of Afghanistan, they were seen as a team with plenty of potential, but one that hadn’t quite learned the knack of translating it into wins in big multi-team events. That has changed quite drastically, all while Afghanistan bring the next generation of players through a system that has barely got off the ground. Players like Zadran, whose 146-ball 177 was the spine through Afghanistan’s innings.

“When I took over, there was a rawness to the side. A lot of it is to do with preparation and how they think about themselves and the work they do off the field, with which you give yourself the best chance on the field. The guys play a lot of cricket, they play a lot of franchise cricket, which is good because they’re developing and playing with the world’s best players and seeing how they perform. They bring that experience back to the Afghanistan side and throw it in the melting pot and we get nights like this.”

A night that, as Trott reminded everyone, was to be enjoyed but swiftly moved on from. There is weather around on Friday, when Afghanistan take on Australia here in Lahore, but if Afghanistan can produce a similar performance, this could be one of the rare cases where Lahore finds the sequel even better than the original.