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Trott credits Jadeja for Afghanistan's superb performance in World Cup

The Afghans have stunned defending champions England, former champions Pakistan and Sri Lanka to collect six points in the tournament so far

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Afghanistan players with team's mentor Ajay Jadeja during a practice session in Lucknow on Thursday. — PTI

By PTI

Published: Thu 2 Nov 2023, 8:57 PM

Afghanistan’s magnificent performance in the ongoing World Cup that helped them toss away the ‘minnows’ tag has a lot to do with the appointment of Ajay Jadeja as their mentor, reckons head coach Jonathan Trott.

The Afghans, who will play the Netherlands on Friday, have stunned defending champions England, former champions Pakistan and Sri Lanka to collect six points in the tournament so far.

It is a position from which they can dream of a place in the World Cup semifinals and a Champions Trophy berth in 2025.

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Trott lavished praise on Jadeja, who scored over 5000 runs in 196 one-day internationals for India, for keeping the team in high spirits.

“I think Ajay brings a lot of experience having played a lot of cricket in India. He's always a good sounding board with regards to conditions, venues and also the other subcontinent teams that we've played against,” Trott said in the pre-match press meet on Thursday.

The former England batsman said having Jadeja on board during a high-pressure event made his job a bit easier.

“As for myself as a coach…as a good sounding board with decision making and sort of planning going forward for each game.

“It (Jadeja’s presence) is also another good set of eyes on the players to see how they're preparing for the matches and how their careers and talent is being utilised,” added Trott.

Afghanistan might view Lucknow, the venue of their next match against Netherlands, as their ‘home ground’ after having been based here some years back.

But Trott dismissed the theory of ‘home advantage’ because of the team’s prior experience at the venue.

Trott said the pitch has been re-laid at the Ekana stadium and that should nullify such reasons.

“I think when it comes to home ground advantage, they (Afghanistan) have good experience of playing here. But in World Cup matches, they've relaid the pitch. So, it's a little bit different to how it has been in the past. I don't think (previous) experience plays that bigger role,” said Trott.

However, Trott said the experience of playing against bigger teams will stand them in good stead.

“But we’ve won against big sides. the big Test playing nations. So, that’s good. I think tomorrow's challenge is going to be playing against a very good Dutch side who are in form and that's going to be the challenge for us, so very excited for it.”

The Netherlands, the only non Test-playing team in the World Cup, have also produced two shock wins – against the high-flying South Africans and Bangladesh.

So the Afghans are unlikely to take them lightly.

Friday's match:

Afghanistan vs Netherlands

Ekana Stadium, Lucknow

12:30 pm UAE Time

Teams:

Afghanistan (possible): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq/Noor Ahmad, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Netherlands (possible): 1 Max O'Dowd, 2 Vikramjit Singh, 3 Wesley Barresi, 4 Colin Ackermann, 5 Scott Edwards (capt & wk), 6 Bas de Leede, 7 Sybrand Engelbrecht, 8 Logan van Beek, 9 Shariz Ahmad, 10 Aryan Dutt, 11 Paul van Meekeren

Head-to-head:

Matches: 9

Netherlands wins: 2

Afghanistan wins: 7

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PTI

Published: Thu 2 Nov 2023, 8:57 PM

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