Afghanistan made it to the T20 World Cup semi-final for the first time in history. Lalchand Rajput, who coached Afghanistan before, predicted this development.
Rajput was convinced that the T20 World Cup would bring a surprise winner and he said it would be Afghanistan. He suggested that in case of a slow wicket at Trinidad for the first semifinal match against South Africa, with an awesome spin attack, they are favourites as far as I am concerned while the Proteas have some difficulty playing against good spinners,” he told TOI.
At present, Rajput is coaching UAE. A former India opener who played two Tests and four ODIs, Rajput could see a sharp improvement in Afghanistan’s game in the last couple of years.
Afghanistan was ravaged by injuries during their recent matches at Mumbai where they were unable to compete against any of their bigger opponents; however, I had anticipated that before this T20 WC started they will upset big teams. They could not close out games after coming very close to winning a few matches during last year’s 50-over World Cup held in India. In contrast to previous years when they only tried doing well this year they are performing excellently. They’ve also shown their desire through body language. Their own bowling on these slow West Indian tracks will be strong enough to defend whatever scores their batsmen put up,” said the 62-year-old Mumbaikar who was part of an Indian cricketing team led by MS Dhoni that won inaugural world t20 champions in South Africa 2007.
After taking charge during Rajputs’ reign back in 2017, Afghanistan were granted test status but Jonathan Trott – former England opener – has lifted them up even higher.
“Trott and Dwayne Bravo (the former West Indies allrounder is Afghanistan’s bowling coach for this T20 World Cup) have done a brilliant job. The good thing about Afghanistan’s players is that they are very keen to learn. They’ve improved massively from when I was with them.
“Initially, their batters just went out there and tried hitting every ball out of the park but now they have learned how to build an innings. Previously, most of their attack revolved around spinners, however even though they still possess excellent ones in their ranks, it is worth noting that Naveen-ulHaq and Fazalhaq Farooqi are some fiery pacers in the squad,” Rajput analysed.
Afghanistan completed a huge 21-run victory over Australia at Kingstown during the earlier ‘Super 8s’ game which had taken cricketing world by surprise; however Rajput wasn’t shocked by that result.
“I knew this one will come because Australia nearly lost to Afghanistan in Mumbai before Glenn Maxwell did what he does best and dropped catches saved his team,” said Rajput.
Afghanistan made it to the T20 World Cup semi-final for the first time in history. Lalchand Rajput, who coached Afghanistan before, predicted this development.
Rajput was convinced that the T20 World Cup would bring a surprise winner and he said it would be Afghanistan. He suggested that in case of a slow wicket at Trinidad for the first semifinal match against South Africa, with an awesome spin attack, they are favourites as far as I am concerned while the Proteas have some difficulty playing against good spinners,” he told TOI.
At present, Rajput is coaching UAE.A former India opener who played two Tests and four ODIs, Rajput could see a sharp improvement in Afghanistan’s game in the last couple of years.
Afghanistan was ravaged by injuries during their recent matches at Mumbai where they were unable to compete against any of their bigger opponents; however, I had anticipated that before this T20 WC started they will upset big teams. They could not close out games after coming very close to winning a few matches during last year’s 50-over World Cup held in India. In contrast to previous years when they only tried doing well this year they are performing excellently. They’ve also shown their desire through body language. Their own bowling on these slow West Indian tracks will be strong enough to defend whatever scores their batsmen put up,” said the 62-year-old Mumbaikar who was part of an Indian cricketing team led by MS Dhoni that won inaugural world t20 champions in South Africa 2007.
After taking charge during Rajputs’ reign back in 2017, Afghanistan were granted test status but Jonathan Trott – former England opener – has lifted them up even higher.
“Trott and Dwayne Bravo (the former West Indies allrounder is Afghanistan’s bowling coach for this T20 World Cup) have done a brilliant job. The good thing about Afghanistan’s players is that they are very keen to learn. They’ve improved massively from when I was with them.
“Initially, their batters just went out there and tried hitting every ball out of the park but now they have learned how to build an innings. Previously, most of their attack revolved around spinners, however even though they still possess excellent ones in their ranks, it is worth noting that Naveen-ulHaq and Fazalhaq Farooqi are some fiery pacers in the squad,” Rajput analysed.
Afghanistan completed a huge 21-run victory over Australia at Kingstown during the earlier ‘Super 8s’ game which had taken cricketing world by surprise; however Rajput wasn’t shocked by that result.
“I knew this one will come because Australia nearly lost to Afghanistan in Mumbai before Glenn Maxwell did what he does best and dropped catches saved his team,” said Rajput.
