[1/3]Cricket – ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – India vs Afghanistan – Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, India – October 11, 2023 India’s Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and teammates meet Afghanistan players after the match Handshake Reuters/Anushree Fadnavis acquires licensing rights
NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Afghanistan suffered a second successive World Cup defeat with an eight-wicket loss to India on Wednesday, but coach Jonathan Trott said they were making progress and looked forward to playing England next. He said he is used to the conditions in Delhi. .
Afghanistan, who lost in a low-scoring encounter to Bangladesh in the opening match of the tournament, once again won with toss-and-first batting and posted a total of 272-8 in 50 overs, with Rohit Sharma contributing to the hosts’ comfortable victory.
Trott said it was a courageous decision to bat first, but admitted that “350 to 360 wickets” was far short.
“I thought it was the right decision to bat first. The fact that there was water spray in the outfield and not much dew, all the results pointed to a slight advantage in batting first,” he told reporters. told.
“I thought our spinners would be in the game late on on a wicket that could limit the spin a little bit. But credit to India, they played really well.”
Trott said his players would have benefited from playing at the same venue where they will face defending champions England on Sunday.
“It was a good match for our players. It was a good lesson on how to play cricket here in Delhi and we are looking forward to playing against England,” he added.
Afghanistan are playing in their third World Cup but have now lost 16 of their 17 matches, with their only win coming against Scotland in 2015.
But Trott was especially impressed when Afghanistan’s captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, 80, and all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai, 62, shared 121 runs, and the midfield improved to 63 wins and 3 losses. He said there was a silver lining.
“Azmat played really well, stepped up to number five and showed his talent and pedigree as an all-rounder,” Trott said.
“There are things in the game that we did right and there are things that we need to improve to compete against teams like India and England.
“So we want to improve on these things going forward and be ready for England.”
Report by Rohith Nair in Bangalore.Editing: Peter Rutherford
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