Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott admitted his team would have been in a much better position if they had held on to their catches against New Zealand at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday. After stunning England, Afghanistan suffered a huge loss of 149 runs against New Zealand and poor fielding led to their downfall.
New Zealand opener Will Young was dropped by Rahmat Shah in the second over the innings. Young went on to punish Afghanistan as he scored 54 runs. Moreover, Hashmatullah Shahidi dropped Rachin Ravindra’s catch when was yet to open his account. Ravindra scored 32 runs and added 79 runs with Will Young.
The Blackcaps stand-in skipper Tom Latham was given two lives by Afghanistan as he was dropped by Mujeeb ur Rahman and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi. Latham went on to score 68 runs and helped New Zealand post 288 runs on the board.
Afghanistan was poor in the field as they could not grab their chances and it could have been a different story if they had taken their catches.
In the post-match press conference, Trott said: “I think if we had taken those and with the wicket of [Devon] Conway, we would have been in a much better position as well. Not only like they were, I think they were about 116 [110] for four at one stage.”
He added: “So, we would have been in an even better position had we held on to those catches. But it wasn’t to be and unfortunately, we have to go home regretting those tonight.”
Trott added consistency has been an issue for his team and they have been lacking it at the top level.
“Well, I certainly feel that [consistency] is what’s needed. I think that’s the only thing really stopping this team is doing the basics really well and that’s consistency.”
He added: “So, if we had taken our catches and put New Zealand under pressure like we should have, I think you’d be looking at, not saying it would have changed the results as a fact, but you would have been looking at a very different performance.”
Afghanistan will next take on Pakistan at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Monday.
