Jonathan Trott feels breaking down targets while batting second is helping Afghanistan

PUNE: Talk about maturing quickly and the Afghanistan cricket team would stand up to lead.
The team that has been boasting about strong T20 players, who can score quick runs and put up a challenging total, are now positioning themselves as a side that can have patience and chase decent targets too.
After successfully chasing Pakistan's 282, the Jonathan Trott coached side reached the target of 242 in 45.2 overs and seven wickets to spare against Sri Lanka in Pune on Monday.
Afghanistan had won the toss against Sri Lanka and decided to bowl first, a decision the coach said was taken after considering the dew factor. He admitted that the Afghans are getting comfortable with the idea of chasing than batting first if the conditions demand.
"I think you've got to look at the conditions and you've got to look at the pitch and what suits our team. I think for us spinners always to bowl with a dry ball is always going to be crucial and getting a bit of turn. We saw the way Noor (Ahmad) bowled last game and the wickets he got. So, we're very lucky in that we got options to be able to select for quite different conditions, but also different conditions when it comes to weather and the effect that the weather has on the pitch and the outfield," Trott said in the post-match conference on Monday.
"When it's batting first, it's a little bit different. I think it's more a case of communication and the targets will change. When it's chasing, the target obviously never changes, unless it's Duckworth Lewis, obviously. So, there's a bit more focus with regards to breaking it down into smaller targets. But sometimes, certainly like the Pakistan game, chasing 280 and starting on 0, it's a long way away. But if you break it down, it seems a lot more manageable.
While he is happy that the players are contributing towards the success of the team, he wants his batters to convert their fifties to hundreds now. On Monday, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai had scored half-centuries.
"Nobody's got 100 yet, so that's the next challenge. Someone accepting responsibility and batting for a longer period of time and making sure we get 100s. We see a lot of 100s scored in the tournament. That's the next frontier, the next barrack. (Rahmanullah ) Gurbaz has scored a few 100s recently and Ibrahim (Zadran), it's about the middle order, 3, 4, 5, 6, being able to score hundreds as well," the coach added.