Head coach Jonathan Trott lauds Afghanistan players in INSPIRING speech after win over Pakistan - Watch

Afghanistan secured their second win of the ODI World Cup 2023 edition on Monday (Oct 23) with an impressive eight-wicket win over Pakistan in match 22 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in New Delhi. Opting to bat first, Babar Azam-led Men in Green posted 282 for 7 with Babar (74) and Abdullah Shafique (58) being the top-scorers.

Afghanistan batters, after Noor Ahmed's 3 for 49 and two strikes from Naveen-ul-Haq, then completed the run-chase in 49 overs with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65), Ibrahim Zadran (87), Rahmat Shah (77*) and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (48*) standing tall. After the historic win, Afghanistan head coach and former English batter Jonathan Trott lauded his troops in an inspiring dressing room speech. He hailed the collective effort of the entire XI and asked them to enjoy the win but also get ready for the upcoming challenges.

In a video shared by Afghanistan Cricket Board on Instagram, Trott said, "There's a lot of emotions, a lot of passion. That's great. Let's just make sure we enjoy tonight. Make sure we look after each other. Let's make sure we enjoy this. Let's take the confidence from this. Enjoy tonight. I think Nabi. 10 oversfor 31. Well, done. Noor, first World Cup game three wickets, well done."

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"Our batters, I thought the way that we started, Ibrahim and Gurbaz I thought that was outstanding. That's world-class batting. You guys played cricket shots. That's what we've got. We've got a lot of talent. If we just apply ourselves in the way that Rahmat and the skipper played," he further opined.

The former English batter added, "Yeah. there are things to work on. And if we can get those sorts of little things right, that will help us win games like this more often and more consistently. But let's make sure we take this confidence and this belief in this change room now and the happiness and we apply to every time we train and every match we play from here on it. Very excited for you boys. I'm very happy, very excited. Very proud."

At the post-match presentation, captain Shahidi said, "This win tastes nice. The way we chased was very professional. Looking forward for the other games. The way we chased today, we'll do it again. The quality cricket that we have been playing from the last couple of years, the belief was there when we were playing the Asia Cup also. At the start of the tournament, I said that we want to make this tournament historic for our country people. First was England, today Pakistan, looking forward for the other games. We'll try our best to play positivecricket and do a lot for our country in this World Cup."

Earlier in the ten-team ODI World Cup, Afghanistan beat defending champions England by 69 runs. Thus, they have two wins from five games and are in the sixth spot.

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