The Afghanistan coach on Rashid Khan’s absence from the India Series: “Opportunity For Others To Step Up”

Jonathan Trott, the head coach of Afghanistan, believes that Rashid Khan’s absence from the T20I series against India presents a chance for other players to rise to the occasion and establish themselves as household names, similar to the famous leg-spinner. Despite being chosen in the team, the renowned spinner, who had back surgery during the ODI World Cup in November, will miss the three matches while recovering. During an interview with “JioCinema,” Trott said, “I think it’s a good opportunity for other players to come in and step up and become household names like he is, with Rashid out of the side.”

“It goes without saying that we will miss a player with Rashid’s leadership and all-around contribution. Asked whether the spinner’s absence affected squad selection, he said, “But it’ll be good to see who is going to stand up and take responsibility and pressure, just a couple of months after the World Cup.”

Afghanistan will try to draw motivation from their strong performance in the ODI World Cup in October and November of last year to prepare in earnest for the forthcoming T20 World Cup. The series begins with the first Twenty20 International here on Thursday.

Former England Test specialist Trott spoke on the difficulties of taking on players such as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, saying his squad is lucky to have players who have faced these superstars in the IPL.

“India may choose a powerful side. They have long been elite players, especially when you include stars like Virat and Rohit. We have the good fortune to have guys against whom we have faced off in a number of IPL matches.

“There will undoubtedly be plans for them, since the other men have seen them on TV. The key is to carry out those preparations and ensure that we are prepared to do so on that day, according to Trott.

But for personal reasons, Kohli will not be participating in the first game of the series.

Regarding Afghanistan’s strategies to prevent India from winning, Trott said that the guests would need to give it their all in every aspect of the match.

“We must improve in each of the game’s three areas. We must prevail in such crucial situations under duress. In order for players to be prepared to participate anytime they have the chance to have an influence on a game, that is the main goal of today’s practice, the player said.

He said, “We had a good 50-over World Cup and obviously these three games are important,” when asked about the areas of emphasis for the series. While we are focused on winning, we also have one eye on the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean in June.

Afghanistan’s performance in the 50-over World Cup in India, where they surprised a few well-established teams and raised expectations of a historic semifinal appearance, left them with many lessons to learn.

“For the players, it’s the belief that they can come to the world stage and beat very, very good sides like we did,” Trott remarked when discussing the advantages. Hopefully, the confidence they get from that will also kind of trickle down to the other forms.

Trott also said that he would make an effort to choose the best XI for each game based on the circumstances while traveling to the T20 World Cup in the Americas.

“We also need to get the right combinations for different conditions and start building a squad of players that can compete with the likes of the world champions, also adapt to different conditions and not be one dimensional and rely too much on the spin bowling.”