{"id":296479,"date":"2023-11-07T00:25:43","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T00:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=296479"},"modified":"2023-11-07T00:25:43","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T00:25:43","slug":"cricket-is-not-just-a-game-to-us-afghanistan-targeting-semi-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/%d1%81ricket\/cricket-is-not-just-a-game-to-us-afghanistan-targeting-semi-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"&apos;Cricket is not just a game to us&apos;: Afghanistan targeting semi-finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Afghanistan are on the brink of reaching their first Cricket World Cup semi-finals&#8230; if they can beat Australia, as Mail Sport goes behind the scenes with Jonathan Trott&#8217;s surprise package, who claim &#8216;the sport is more than a game to us&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Afghanistan are on the cusp of making their first Cricket World Cup semi-final\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span>Jonathan Trott&#8217;s side have won four of their six matches at the tournament\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>They face Australia on Tuesday and a win will see them qualify for the knockouts\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Chennai. October 23. Afghanistan have waltzed to a first-ever victory over Pakistan and the celebrations are in full flow, with raucous singing and dancing.<\/p>\n<p>Assistant coach Raees Ahmadzai picks up the steel lids used to cover the food in the dressing room and bashes them together as if they are musical instruments. Then head coach Jonathan Trott joins in with the dancing. The players have never seen this side of him before \u2014 but this is different.<\/p>\n<p>Beating England at a World Cup was big but given the political undertones with Pakistan \u2014 in the last few weeks, thousands of Afghan refugees have been forced out of Pakistan \u2014 this win unleashed a different level of emotion.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ve never seen such scenes,\u2019 Trott tells Mail Sport. \u2018I\u2019ll never understand how much it means but I could see it in their eyes so I felt like I had to join in.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Beating England was great but we didn\u2019t want it to be a one-off. The win against Pakistan kicked us on.\u2019 And if they can beat Australia on Tuesday they would be on the brink of a first World Cup semi-final.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/22\/77477197-0-image-a-38_1699308065491.jpg\" height=\"361\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan are on the verge of qualifying for their first Cricket World Cup semi-final\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/22\/77477461-0-image-a-40_1699308099205.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A win against Australia on Tuesday will see them qualify for the knockouts\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/22\/77477507-0-image-a-42_1699308118954.jpg\" height=\"397\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Trott&#8217;s side have enjoyed a fine campaign in India winning four of their six matches notably upsetting the odds to beat England\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Given the language barrier, Trott relies on simplicity to communicate.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I want each of them to take ownership,\u2019 he says. \u2018They can all play cricket. It\u2019s about encouraging them to use their own minds to become the best players they can.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s working. \u2018The biggest shift under Trotty is how he empowers the players to take responsibility,\u2019 says Mohsin Sheikh, Afghanistan\u2019s performance analyst. \u2018This place had a classroom-like environment before, where the players would just do what they were told because that\u2019s the culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Now, we try to stimulate tactical discussions and leave it to the guys because they\u2019re the ones playing.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Training at the Wankhede Stadium begins with a meeting where Trott and his coaches reaffirm the message for the players to focus on their own strengths and to have the belief they can beat Australia. \u2018From the start, I\u2019ve said we\u2019re not here to just compete. We\u2019re here to win games,\u2019 he insists.<\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan train tirelessly in the 35\u00b0C (95\u00b0F) Mumbai heat, with batters running between wickets in the nets. More than three hours later, it\u2019s a struggle to get them off the pitch. \u2018Their love for the game is something else,\u2019 says Trott. \u2018These guys will bat for hours. I have to pull them out for their own sake. The resilience is crazy.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Thirteen of the 15-man squad still reside in Afghanistan, where nine out of 10 people live in poverty. Most of them grew up playing cricket in refugee camps in north-west Pakistan. \u2018Because life is so hard away from cricket, this is one of their few enjoyments,\u2019 says Jason Douglas, strength and conditioning coach.<\/p>\n<p>In the evenings, the players meet in each other\u2019s rooms to socialise, drink tea and play Ludo. Rashid Khan\u2019s room is the hub. \u2018We are like family,\u2019 says Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who smashed 80 against England. \u2018We enjoy every moment together because we know how lucky we are.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/22\/77477509-0-image-a-43_1699308199751.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Speaking on his side&#8217;s victory against Jos Buttler&#8217;s side, Trott said:\u00a0\u2018Beating England was great but we didn\u2019t want it to be a one-off&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/22\/77477201-0-image-a-44_1699308242066.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Sachin Tendulkar (right) joined the team at training and spent time greeting the players\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/22\/77477219-0-image-a-45_1699308378169.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan have now only lost to New Zealand and India so far in the tournament<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/06\/22\/77477487-0-image-a-46_1699308393990.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>They will be motivated to beat Australia after Pat Cummins&#8217; side refused to play a bilateral series against them earlier this year<\/p>\n<p>Naveen ul Haq adds: \u2018Cricket is the only happiness we have. By winning games, we put smiles on the faces of our people. It\u2019s more than a game for us.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The next day, Sachin Tendulkar joins the team at training and spends three hours on the outfield, speaking to each player individually. Gurbaz says: \u2018If I make a hundred against Australia, I will have to give my thanks to Sachin for what he has told me.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan\u2019s motivation to beat Australia is fuelled by the Aussies\u2019 refusal to play Afghanistan in a bilateral series earlier this year due to the Taliban\u2019s restriction on women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n<p>For Trott, might there be some more dancing if they conquer a fourth world champion?<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Let\u2019s wait,\u2019 he says. \u2018It\u2019s emotional seeing the joy they bring to their people. Our WhatsApp group is full of players sharing videos of the celebrations in Kabul. The joy they provide is unmatched.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/cricket\/article-12717591\/Afghanistan-brink-reaching-Cricket-World-Cup-semi-finals-beat-Australia-Mail-Sport-goes-scenes-Jonathan-Trotts-surprise-package-claim-sport-game-us.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Afghanistan are on the brink of reaching their first Cricket World Cup semi-finals&#8230; if they can beat Australia, as Mail Sport goes behind the scenes with Jonathan Trott&#8217;s surprise package, who claim &#8216;the sport is more than a game to us&#8217; Afghanistan&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&amp;apos;Cricket is not just a game to us&amp;apos;: Afghanistan targeting semi-finals - Sports-Life-News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/\u0441ricket\/cricket-is-not-just-a-game-to-us-afghanistan-targeting-semi-finals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&amp;apos;Cricket is not just a game to us&amp;apos;: Afghanistan targeting semi-finals - Sports-Life-News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Afghanistan are on the brink of reaching their first Cricket World Cup semi-finals&#8230; 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