Follow UsAfghanistan might have the lowest odds among the four semi-finalists to lift the ICC T20 World Cup trophy and be crowned champions, but the side’s head coach Jonathan Trott has asserted that his team will walk into the semi-final against South Africa with one thing, and one thing only, in their mind: winning.
On June 24 (Monday) in St Vincent, the Afghans scripted history by beating Bangladesh and making it to the final four of a major event for the first time in the country’s history. They are now two wins away from achieving a feat many thought was impossible, which was Afghanistan lifting the World Cup.
With nothing to lose, Trott has vowed that his side will do everything in their power to ensure that they go all the way.
“We're in the semi-final now, nothing to lose. Very, very positive from now on in. But by no means do we feel like we're going into the semi-final just to compete. We're there to win the semi-final,” Trott said ahead of the South Africa clash.
“We've seen we've beaten some major teams. We've won by large margins. We've won by tight margins. We've won in close games. So that's going to serve us well going forward to the semi-final.”
Their opponents in the semi-final, South Africa, have a lot of history and baggage when it comes to knockouts in ICC events. It was, in fact, only eight months ago that the Proteas suffered a gut-wrenching loss in the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup at the hands of Australia.
Trott asserted that not having any historical baggage will work in favour of his young Afghan side.
“We go into the semi-final with no scarring or no history with regards to semi-finals. This is uncharted territory for us,” Trott said.
“We're just going to go out there and give it our all. There's no preconceived ideas on it all, or history of failure or success in semifinals in past years. For us it's a new challenge and I think that makes us dangerous in the semifinals as a side with nothing to lose and obviously a lot of pressure on the opposition.”
South Africa are a side Afghanistan have never beaten in international cricket, but they came close to doing so in the 50-over World Cup. There, chasing 245, the Proteas registered a five-wicket win but the contest was way closer than what the scorecard suggests.
Trott stated that, after a close contest in the 50-over World Cup, the Afghan players are really itching to play the Proteas. He added that his side will benefit from the fact that they’ve already played once in Trinidad — the clash against Papua New Guinea which they won by seven wickets.
“Looking forward to the match against a strong South African side. We've played a game at Trinidad, so we've been there, there's familiarity about the ground and the conditions. So yeah, looking forward to it,” the Afghanistan head coach said.
“And it's not every day you get to play in a World Cup semi-final. Obviously, this is the first time for Afghanistan, very proud. But I know those guys are very excited to go out there and to play against South Africa.
“We had a good game against them in the 50-over World Cup. There was neck and neck for a while. They obviously won the game. But we're looking forward to matching up against them.”
The Afghanistan head coach admitted, however, that his side will have to fare much better with the bat come the semis. It’s the bowling that has carried Afghanistan throughout this tournament. Against Bangladesh, the bowlers produced a superhuman effort but the batting was ordinary, with the side managing to post just 115 batting first.
“I just think batting we've got to be better all around - we left a lot of runs out there,” Trott said.
“Yes, it wasn't the greatest of wickets but so many times just bat on ball we just missed so many balls where we could have got singles or perhaps look to hit it in the gaps. But just a little bit of a narrow experience. I'm not sure if it's a little bit of nerves.”
Regardless of who wins Wednesday’s clash, there will be a first-time finalist. Both South Africa and Afghanistan have never made it to the final of a T20 World Cup.
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