Afghanistan is "never going to be taken lightly" by any team after his "resilient" side knocked England out of the Champions Trophy with a memorable win, head coach Jonathan Trott has asserted. Ibrahim Zadran's majestic 177 and pacer Azmatullah Omarzai's fifer trumped Joe Root's masterful hundred, as the Afghanistan registered a thrilling eight-run win against England here on Wednesday.
Looking ahead to their next must-win game against Australia, Trott also said that Afghanistan team will take confidence form their fine showings against the Aussies in recent World Cup outings. "Since I've been coach we've played against Australia three times and we've been in the game each of those games. So, we should take a lot of confidence from that. And I think certainly what happened in the World Cup, T20 World Cup, and I say this to the players as well, that Afghanistan's never going to be taken lightly ever again," Trott said at the post-match press conference.
"I see every game that we play is going to be competitive and every game we go into I expect to win," the Englishman added.
Wins by Afghanistan against established Test nations are no longer seen as upsets and recent performances on the world stage mean they cannot afford to fly under the radar. "Australia aren't going to take us lightly," Trott said.
"So, we've got to be prepared. In the past, perhaps people would have seen the fixture and thought it was a little bit easier than playing a historic Test nation. But in this format, in these conditions, I don't see that."
With two points from two games, Afghanistan are still in the semifinal race. A win against Australia will take them to four points, which will elevate them to the top two. Australia have three points from two games after their washout against South Africa. A loss for Afghanistan will mean they are out of the competition.
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