Trott wants Afghanistan's batting unit to show more consistency

Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott wants his batters to show more consistency if they want to compete with strong nations in the upcoming T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA. Afghanistan won four of their nine encounters in the ODI World Cup last year and Trott feels his team can “beat anybody” if they get a few things right.

Afghanistan got 159 in the first T20I against India and then hit 172 in the second game in Indore. However, India hardly had any trouble hunting down those totals. Afghanistan’s batting unit has been good but not consistent enough to challenge India. They could only get 57 in the first 10 overs in Mohali and then managed just 51 runs in the middle phase (7-15) in the second T20I.

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

“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.”

The third and final T20I against India is on Wednesday. Afghanistan are then scheduled to play three T20Is each against Sri Lanka and Ireland before the 20-over showpiece event in June. 

"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 Cup and the series before that. That's what I am looking to build up here,” said Trott.

"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.”