G. Krishnan
Bengaluru, Jan 17:
India’s left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh is looking at getting better with every match. With three wickets in two T20Is including a 3/32 in the last match in Indore, Singh said on Tuesday that the team’s main aim is to win the third and final T20I against Afghanistan on Wednesday here.
The 24-year-old Singh said on the match eve on Tuesday: “The team’s mindset doesn’t work on what the series score line is or what happened in the last few matches. The main motive is to play as per the conditions, get used to the ground and adapt quickly. Even if we are leading 2-0, we are looking at improving ourselves and developing match skills.”
From the rival camp, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said he was looking at this series as a build up to this year’s ICC T20 World Cup. He said: “This is the start of our focus for this World Cup. With planning and good preparation, we want to see what we can achieve. I think we are going in the right direction. Coming to India is pretty tough. It gives us a good base about where we are and exposes you in areas that need improvement. Especially going forward to the World Cup and wanting to be as good as we were in the previous 50-over World Cup and hopefully go even better.”
For the record, Afghanistan defeated three former world champions – England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – in last year’s World Cup in India.
The former England opener added: “We saw ourselves build towards that 50-over World Cup with the Asia Cup and a series before that. And that’s what I’m looking to build on here. We are sort of getting better in parts. Hopefully, on Wednesday, we can get it all together. As a side we are fully aware of our stats against the world’s best in batting. We always want to improve on our bowling. But it’s the batting that we need to improve to become that tougher side that competes day-in and day-out.”
Trott hoped to finish the series with a consolation victory. “A win will be nice. We played some good cricket in the past but there have also been times where we haven’t been as good. I will be looking at getting closer to a good 40 overs from us on Wednesday. Being able to put some pressure on the Indian side in the middle overs with the ball would be nice and something that we want to get better at if we want to compete at the World Cup. Plenty to play for at such a historic and great venue.”
