Afghanistan hopeful of retaining Trott as head coach

Afghanistan Cricket Board official insisted they are hopeful that their head coach Jonathan Trott will continue to work with them beyond the next ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled from February 2026 across India and Sri Lanka.

Recently it was reported that Trott is likely to quit from his post as Afghanistan's head coach but ACB chief executive Naseeb Khan told Cricbuzz that they are not losing their hope with regards to keeping Trott in the national setup.

"We are hopeful that Trott would stay beyond the T20 World Cup," said Naseeb.

"Regarding the coaches' agreements, I would like to clarify that we are currently in negotiations with our national coaching staff regarding their involvement for the next year," he said.

"For transparency, this negotiation is a standard procedure at ACB, conducted at the end of each year with all staff members," he said.

"We have not yet concluded this process, but once it is finalized, we will share the outcome with the media," he added.

Trott, who was named the head coach of Afghanistan in July 2022, and later got his contract extended, helped the Afghans make first-ever appearance at the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in 2024 on the back of two historical wins against New Zealand (group-stage) and Australia (Super Eight) respectively.

Afghanistan, under the guidance of the Englishman, registered back-to-back ODI series victories against South Africa (2-1) in September 2024 and Bangladesh (3-0) in October 2025 in the United Arab Emirates while they finished in the top eight at the 2023 World Cup to meet the selection criteria for earning a spot in the 2025 Champions Trophy.