Trott set sights on batting consistency heading towards the T20 World Cup

As Afghanistan commence their preparation for this year’s T20 World Series, you couldn’t blame them for being quietly optimistic. The recent turn of events in the 50 over World Cup last year- has given them that luxury as they emerged victorious on four occasions out of their nine league fixtures and came within reach of advancing for the final four. 

Jonathan Trott, who supervised the unthinkable and had his contract extended as the head coach until the T20 World Cup this year, once again has his hopes and believes his team is capable of “defeating any opposition”- a statement he made after his team etched their names in the history books beating the Three Lions at the grandest stage. 

This time around, however, they have to make amends. They head into the Bengaluru game 0-2 down and will face the arduous task of finding batting consistency, despite mounting totals of 158/5 (Mohali) and 172 (Indore).

“It's a combination of all of that [batting long and batting with a better strike rate]. I think we need our batters going into the last 10 [overs]. We have seen how hard it is to stop batters in the last five overs," Trott said on January 16 (Tuesday).

"We did well in Mohali, in the last 10 overs to get 110 runs, I think for just two wickets, you can't ask for anything more. But in Indore, in the middle nine overs, we went at six an over after the PowerPlay building up to the last 4-5 overs. So again it is those areas, where we do well in one game and then we don't do well in the next. We need to do it more if you want to compete over a series or a World Cup. So that's the challenge but also the exciting bit that if we get those things right we can beat anybody," he added.

Afghanistan came to India on the back of a 2-1 series win over UAE, where inconsistency became apparent. After scoring 200 in the series opener that they comprehensively won by 72 runs, they made a meal of 167 run chase only two days later. They eventually managed to win the series, but not without fumbling. With a game in Bengaluru, three in Sri Lanka followed by three more against Ireland in Sharjah left to play, Trott seeks the sort of positive build-up Afghanistan got with the Asia ODI Series and three bilateral series (against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan) last year for the showpiece event (ODI World Cup). 

"We haven't played a lot of T20 cricket recently. As a side we sort of take a while to get going with rhythm. We saw ourselves build up towards the 50-over World Cup with the Asia Series and the series before that. That's what I am looking to build up here.

"I think we're sort of getting better in parts. Hopefully tomorrow [Wednesday] we can get it together. As a side we are fully aware of our stats against the world's best in batting. In the bowling [department], we are pretty good. We always want to improve on our bowling but with batting there are a few areas to improve consistently, if we want to become that tougher side that competes day in and day out," Trott said.