This post was originally published on 3rd party site mentioned on the title ofthis site
The Afghans have displayed exceptional batting throughout the season with openers Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz leading the line.
The duo have recorded the second-highest first-wicket partnership in the T20 World Cup scoring 154 runs in their opening fixture against Uganda. With two more 100-plus runs partnerships, against New Zealand (103 runs), and Australia (118 runs), they have become only the second opening pair to register three 100-plus runs stand in the T20 World Cup, alongside Pakistani pair Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan.
Their four 50-plus partnerships in this edition of the tournament, are also the most by a pair in a single Men’s T20 World Cup.
But, contradictory to the openers’ performance, the middle order has not been up to the mark.
Trott believed that over-reliance on their openers was an area of concern for Afghanistan, that the side needed to address by getting in more quality top and middle-order batters.
“South Africa bowled pretty well and they knew how to be bowling the conditions once they saw how the pitch was behaving and I just think it’s bad as we haven’t fired really, the middle order hasn’t fired enough this World Cup.
“We’ve perhaps been a bit too reliant on Gurbaz and Ibrahim to get runs. Nobody else has got runs. And we need to find a reason for that.”
“We need to get more batters in who are going to score runs and be more consistent like the openers have been and given us a chance in games. So that’s the project for going forward.
“Certainly, in all formats as well, 50-over white-ball cricket as well, getting middle-order batters and top-order batters like we have at the openers with Ibrahim and Gurbaz. So that’s the focus for now.”
