
In their last two ICC tournaments, AFG coach Trott’s men beat England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to finish sixth at the 50-over World Cup and entered the semifinals of the T20 edition in 2024, beating Australia along the way.
“It’s all on the line, and since I’ve been coach, we’ve played against Australia three times and we’ve been in the game in each of those games,” former England batter Trott said before the match.
“We should take a lot of confidence from that … certainly what happened in the World Cup, T20 World Cup, and I say this to the players as well, that Afghanistan’s never going to be taken lightly ever again.
“In the past, perhaps people would have seen the fixture and thought it was a little bit easier than playing a historic Test nation.
“In this format, in these conditions, I don’t see that. Every game that we play is going to be competitive and every game we go into I expect to win.”
Trott said there was a rawness to the team when he took over in 2022, but they have grown with experience.



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