Barbados: You can see why Jonathan Trott has found the kind of success he has with Afghanistan. He is honest, defends anyone who needs defending, and always backs his wards, but is also good at spreading out responsibilities without blaming a player or two if and when his team doesn’t do well.
They didn’t do too well on Thursday, losing by 47 runs against India at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, but Trott took it on the chin, even leant a bit into what he didn’t do as a player, to provide access to the mindset of players learning and evolving.
This, however, was directed towards Rashid Khan and what he brings to the table. Rashid, expectedly, finished with figures of 3 for 26 from his quota.
"I think with all great players, that's a lot of the time, it's what they do off the field that's not in front of the cameras and the way they conduct themselves,” said Trott about Rashid.
"Rash is sitting here (he was lined up for the next press conference) and he won't mind me saying, but setting high standards for themselves that take others with them and inspire other people. And work ethic, desire, ability to listen and learn, and always wanting to grow and discover, try new deliveries, and push the boundaries on your own game.
"Sometimes I think as players, and at times I was maybe like this as a player, you try and hold on to what you have and you don't want to grow as a player, you try and protect what you've got. I wish I had pushed myself with regard to testing my game and pushing the boundaries on what I could achieve as a player. I think Rashid sets a great example for that for all younger players, not only in Afghanistan but around the world and in India and the IPL (Indian Premier League) and across the globe so yeah that's all I can say really and he bowls pretty well as well.”
That said, Trott was disappointed with the kind of shots some of the batters came up with when they were tested by a good bowling unit, led by Jasprit Bumrah’s stifling figures of 3 for 7 from four overs.
"Yeah, obviously disappointed with a few of the shots or the decision-making. Obviously, Bumrah is going to be a key bowler for any side. So, for India, he's crucial and we needed to play him better,” he said.
“His figures suggest we didn't play him very well. We'd spoken about it and how we were going to play him. So, we weren't able to execute that and, yeah, that's very disappointing. And I know there are a lot of, or a few batters, or most of them, thinking they could have done a bit better with their decision making but also execution.”
Save for Rashid, though, the others were a bit loose on the day. Trott didn’t appreciate that.
“Well, wicket-taking I think,” he said as the reason for their loss. “Taking wickets on these pitches comes from creating pressure. So, you need to find a way to create pressure or a way to sort of not get hurt on types of wickets like this where there's a short boundary and with the wind. So, you need to be able to execute and get yourselves.
“if you're not getting wickets, you're not leaking for too many runs. So, for me, we just weren't able to do that. We were a little bit in between. And then the plans that we did have, we weren't able to execute, which releases the pressure on the Indian batsmen.”
Trott insisted that their loss had more to do with the fact that they didn’t have someone who could do what Suryakumar Yadav did for India, score 53 from 28 balls when the chips were down.
"We needed somebody to play that type of innings and we just didn't have anybody to come in and do that,” he said.