Former India skipper Jadeja ‘good sounding board’ for Afghanistan

LUCKNOW: Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott on Thursday hailed team mentor and controversial former India skipper Ajay Jadeja as a crucial “sounding board” as they keep up their push for a place in the World Cup semi-finals.

Afghanistan take on the Netherlands on Friday looking for a fourth win in seven games which will keep them comfortably in contention for the last four.

Trott, who took over last year, said Jadeja’s experience of Indian conditions has proved key in a campaign which has yielded wins over defending champions England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

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“I think Ajay obviously brings a lot of experience having played a lot of cricket in India,” said Trott of the former middle-order batsman who played 196 ODIs and 15 Tests for his country.

Jadeja, now 52, was an attacking middle-order batsman.

However, he was banned by the BCCI for five years in 2000 after he was named in a match-fixing investigation by federal investigators.

The ban was later over-turned by a Delhi court.

“He’s (Jadeja) always a good sounding board with regards to conditions and the venues and probably also the other subcontinent teams that we’ve played against,” added Trott.

“As for myself as a coach, (it’s) also another good set of eyes on the players to see how they’re preparing for the matches.”

Trott emphasised his team has to play well to reach the last four – after facing the Dutch, they tackle five-time champions Australia (Mumbai on November 5) and South Africa (Ahmedabad on November 10).

“Well, we’re not going to make the semis by just talking about it,” he added

“We have to play good cricket. So as long as we play good cricket, we’ll give ourselves the best chance of being able to do that.

“That starts tomorrow and how well we start tomorrow is going to be crucial and how well we finish.”

Trott said the venue of Lucknow, where Afghanistan has had a base camp in the past, will not be a crucial factor.

“I think they have good experience of playing here at the ground, but in the case of World Cup matches, I think they’ve relaid the pitch a little bit. So, it’s a little bit different, it’s not a positive.”