As Glenn Maxwell’s brutal shots kept soaring into the Mumbai skyline, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott wished there was a rule to station fielders on the stands, as that was the only way to get him out.
Maxwell made the most of a dropped catch—a simple regulation chance at a short fine leg spilled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman off Noor Ahmed—as he stroked his way to a sensational 201 not out off only 128 balls, hitting 21 fours and 10 sixes. This was after Australia was down and out at 91 for 7 in pursuit of 292.
Trott, who has been heralded for taking Afghanistan to the next level in this World Cup, lamented the ordinary fielding effort shown by his players.
“I am sure there are a few things—maybe one or two things—that you could have done differently, but that is cricket, and there are always going to be things you want to have back,” Trott told the media after Afghanistan’s loss.
“But he kept hitting them in the stands, so we cannot put fielders in the stands. I wish we could have,” he added.
“But, full credit to him, the way that he played to get a double hundred is phenomenal. He deserved to win the game; he got a double hundred,” Trott continued.
The Afghanistan coach admitted his team did not have the right mindset even though they had the game in their grasp at one stage, having reduced Australia to 91 for seven inside 19 overs.
“I think when, obviously, unfortunately, the second catch went down, everyone just seemed to sort of think—just waiting for him, you know, Maxwell to get out,” Trott said.
“I did not see a lot of encouragement or people cheering each other on and encouraging each other. It seemed to sort of like the attitude was a little bit, well, we will just, hopefully ‘we will still win’ type-thing,” Trott said.
