[Trending News] Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott: ‘Every game we go into, I expect us to win’

From losing by 275 runs after allowing them to score 417/6 in a 2015 World Cup game 10 years ago, to having the potential to evict Australia out of the Champions Trophy, Afghanistan has come a long way.

This makes Australia-Afghanistan a big-ticket clash, eagerly anticipated despite the rain threat.

Afghanistan’s South African British coach Jonathan Trott said the many-time ICC champions were in no position to take the Afghans lightly.

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“It’s all on the line,” Trott told media this week. “Since I’ve been coach we’ve played against Australia three times and we’ve been in the game each of those games, so we should take a lot of confidence from that.

“I think certainly what happened in the T20 World Cup, and I say this to the players as well, that Afghanistan’s never going to be taken lightly ever again.

“So we’ve got to be prepared because I know Australia aren’t going to take us lightly,” Trott asserted ahead of the game.

Last year, Afghanistan knocked Mitchell Marsh’s side out of the T20 World Cup after a historic 21-run triumph in Kingstown, the Asian nation’s first victory over Australia in any format. However the spectre of Glenn Maxwell who “single-leggedly” batted them off the 2023 World Cup, with just a mean golf swing on the bat despite cramps, hangs on Afghan heads in the 50 overs format.

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Though captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said their team planned for all opponents, superstar Rahisd Khan had confessed Maxwell’s Wankhede heist gave him ‘nightmares.’ Trott though, is confident after their last two ICC ODI games finished with progression of Australia winning by 7 wickets with 91 balls to spare to them escaping by 3 wickets with 19 balls to spare.

No rain permitting on Friday, Afghanistan have an opportunity to eliminate Australia from an ICC event for the second time in eight months.

He reckoned perceptions had changed and the conditions in Pakistan make them a serious threat. “Whereas 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.”