Despite the heavy defeat, Uganda captain takes heart from their comeback with the ball in the death overs
Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott believes that their net-run-rate-boosting win against Uganda will stand them in good stead in Group C, which also includes co-hosts West Indies and New Zealand. Afghanistan started their campaign with a 125-run demolition of World Cup debutants Uganda, Fazalhaq Farooqi leading the way with figures of 5 for 9. Their NRR is currently 6.25.
“I think in a tight group with the quality of sides, net run-rate may play its part,” Trott said after the game. “I don’t worry too much about the weather and the rain, and that’s up to the cricketing gods. But I think it’s more of a confidence boost the way that we played and finished off the game as well. I think Fazal [Farooqi] bowled really well, and helped the whole team. So that’s pleasing.”
It was the opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran that set the tone for victory with a 154-run partnership – the second highest for the first wicket in the men’s T20 World Cup. Though Ibrahim’s dismissal triggered a collapse of 5 for 29 in the end overs and slowed Afghanistan down – they didn’t score a single boundary in the last six overs of their innings – their 183 for 5 proved too much for Uganda.
“I think obviously our opening partnership was really good and set a great platform,” Trott said. “I think obviously we didn’t capitalise on it as much as we could and that’s something we need to work on going forward. So, the exciting thing is there’s still things we can do better and as a coach that’s obviously the challenge for the players but also exciting for us if we can get that right.
“I think coming into the tournament and starting on these wickets, especially against a slightly older ball, is a little bit tricky. So we’ve got to get better at that. We only scored 30-odd in the last six overs and with the platform we had, we should have done a bit better. We shuffled the order a little bit, and maybe that’s our fault a little bit, as coaches, decision making, mixing the order up a little bit left-right hand…
“We want to look at that and hopefully get that right next game. There’s always areas to improve. Fielding, bowling, death bowling, variations, boundary hitting. So we’re looking to improve the whole time.”
Farooqi warmed the bench at Sunrisers Hyderabad throughout IPL 2024, but he hit the ground running in his first T20I for Afghanistan in this World Cup, bagging his first five-for in the format. Two of those five wickets came in the very first over of Afghanistan’s defence, and Uganda were eventually dismissed for 58 in 16 overs.
“It looks like he’s worked really hard on his game,” Trott said. “I am very pleased for him today. The way that he was able to bowl and stuck to his plans. He showed his skill that he is able to swing the ball and take wickets early. It always creates trouble for the opposition and gets us going in the right direction.”
Uganda captain happy with their death bowling
Despite the heavy defeat, Uganda captain Brian Masaba took heart from their comeback with the ball in the death overs after the early assault from Gurbaz and Ibrahim. It was the first instance of a team not conceding a single boundary in the last six overs of a men’s T20 World Cup innings. Masaba and seamer Cosmas Kyewuta shared four wickets between them to tie down Afghanistan’s middle-order hitters.
“That’s a huge bonus for us. In a T20 game, very often the game can go very quickly in the last five overs,” Masaba said. “Especially considering the fact that we are under the pump for most of the innings. So to come back like that and restrict them the way we did, it’s a huge bonus for us. We’ll look to carry that into our games going forward.”
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
