Photo Credit: Afghanistan Cricket Board
Afghanistan’s newly appointed batting Coach, H. D Ackerman says that it has been a fabulous experience so far for him with the Afghan national team.
In a brief interview for ACB’s social media, Ackerman was all praise for the talent in Afghanistan and added that he is looking forward to being involved for a longer time to come with the national team. He said the willingness to learn displayed by Afghan players has impressed him the most as they know well where they want to go and what is required to go there.
He further added, “I have watched some of their best players play around the world in different leagues. However, what has really struck me is their amazing ability to find the boundary in T20Is just when it’s needed the most. It is something that, in my opinion, they can level themselves up with any top side in the world.”
As far as improvements are concerned, Ackerman remarked that the coaching staff including Head Coach Lance Klusner’s focus will be to work on different basic aspects of batting with the team such as Strike rotation and running between the wickets so that they are at par with the best teams in the world.
Ackerman further added that the beauty of the Afghanistan batting line-up is that they bat very deep as even the lower order can contribute very well at times with bat in hand. However, he said that the important thing for these batsmen will be to play the different roles as well as they can which is why the head coach wants flexibility in the team.
In Ackerman’s first series as the batting coach, Afghanistan beat Ireland 2-1 in the recently concluded T20I series between both sides at the Greater Noida Ground in India.
Name of Author: Afghanistan Cricket Board
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is the governing body for cricket in Afghanistan. It joined the ICC in 2001, became an associate member in 2013, and a full member in 2017. The ACB is also part of the Asian Cricket Council.
