ASIA CUP 2025
Afghanistan arrived at the Asia Cup with big hopes, but have been sent out the earliest © Getty
Afghanistan head coach Jonathon Trott said on Thursday that sometimes ‘setback helps to regroup’ as they made an early exit from the ongoing Asia Cup. Afghanistan were one of the favourites to progress past the group stage, but successive defeats to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ended their campaign prematurely.
Sri Lanka sealed their place in the Super 4s with a clinical six-wicket win over Afghanistan in the final Group B clash. The result also confirmed Bangladesh’s progression, while Afghanistan bowed out despite Mohammad Nabi’s blistering 22-ball 60, which lifted them from near collapse to a competitive 169/8 – only for it to go in vain.
“It was very disappointing and a hard one to swallow. We thought we were in a good position, believing 170 after Nabi’s heroics was a good total. However, their batters played rather well, and we sort of aided them with our bowling and fielding.
“We didn’t start well in the power play with our bowling, which gave them a leg up. We just weren’t at the races and made too many basic errors in batting, bowling, and in the field. You can’t win cricket games, especially in tournaments like this, with such errors,” Trott told reporters after the game.
“We came here with huge ambitions, and I was very ambitious about what we could achieve. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that, and we need to figure out why.
“We have a lot of T20 cricket coming up, including the World Cup in February. All the coaches, including myself, and all the players need to think long and hard about where we went wrong and how we need to get better.
“Sometimes these setbacks can help us regroup and ensure we don’t make the same mistakes in the future.”
Trott added that they missed the services of Naveen-ul-Haq, who was ruled out of the tournament due to injury. “Potentially, yes (we missed the service of a pace bowler). Unfortunately, we missed Naveen; if he had been fit, it would have been a completely different kettle of fish.
“This is certainly something to look at, and we need to ensure we have the right stock of bowlers.”
Meanwhile, Kusal Mendis said that Sri Lanka was pleased with how they executed their plans against Afghanistan spinners.
“Actually, from the beginning, we knew they would bowl a lot of spin overs. So, Kusal (Perera) and I mostly talked about batting normally for the first 12 overs. After that, Kusal actually got some runs. So, we always went at about eight or nine runs an over. That made it very easy in the middle.
“Then, after Charith, I said we should just look to bat normally until the 13th over because in the last few overs, they would have to bowl pace overs or something. So, we were waiting for that.
“Actually we know they often rely on spin. I tried to stretch the game as long as possible in the middle, meaning to take it to the last over because, as I said, they definitely have to bowl two pace overs. So, I was looking for a big over from the spinners there.
“In the middle, Kamindu hit a six and I hit a four; two such overs were what I was hoping for. So, if that came, it would be easy, that’s what we discussed in the middle. So, in the end, we waited until a pace over came. And honestly, if you look at their spin attack, they have good spinners,” he said.
© Cricbuzz
