JOIN USAfghan coach happy with team's show
While rueing the fact that dropped catches might have stopped them from pulling off an upset win over India, Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance.
After restricting India to 159/5, Afghanistan at various stages appeared to be going all the way before succumbing to the pressure and losing the match by 23 runs here on Wednesday.
“Yeah, actually there was a chance of making it,” said Khan when asked if he fancied Afghanistan’s chances. “We made a few mistakes on the field; the boys dropped a few catches. That could have reduced the total by at least 15-20. And while batting, at some stages we were well in the game but then we lost a few wickets in a very short time
. But overall I would say, our team played much better compared to the last World T20 they played against India. I think our performance was impressive but we could have done better,” he remarked.
The former Pakistan player, however, felt that India could have still managed a competitive total even if Afghanistan fielders had held on to those catches. “Indian batting line-up has quite a bit of depth in it. If we had taken those catches it would have meant one quality batsman following another other quality batsman. They would have scored at least 140 in any case.
But sometimes in cricket, you take one wicket and you follow it up with some more wickets. But the way we started, I thought even 160 was gettable. If we had batted a little more sensibly, we could have achieved it,” he reasoned.
The lack of experience at this level, Khan added, was the reason why Afghanistan couldn’t seize their moments.