An emotional Jonathan Trott fought back tears at his final press conference as Afghanistan coach after their match against Canada at the 2026 FIFA World Cup T20. Trott will leave his role after the tournament is over after taking over the 2022 Afghanistan side.
Since his appointment, Trott changed the fate of Afghanistanmaking them one of the most exciting teams in the world. The former England batsman guided Afghanistan to a memorable ODI World Cup 2023 campaign, beating Pakistan, England and Sri Lanka and pushing Australia to the finish line. The following year, in the final edition of the T20 World Cup, he oversaw Afghanistan’s fairytale run to the semi-finals of the tournament with wins over New Zealand and Australia.
Jonathan Trott’s tearful final press conference. He was visibly emotional and moved.
This is what Afghans and Afghanistan do to you. They make you love them no matter what.
pic.twitter.com/XhlU04JSXG— Hameed Shuja (@hameedshuja) February 19, 2026
After the win over CanadaTrott came to the post-match press conference where the questions were mainly about his experience with Afghanistan cricket and their future prospects. This left the Afghan coach a little stunned as he recalled his first tour to Ireland and realized the talent in the camp.
“Well, I’m just thinking and I could sit here and tell you so many stories about things that I’ve seen with my own eyes, but the talent, yeah – I said I don’t want to get upset. I just remember my first trip when we were in Ireland and I just saw things that made me realize these guys are so talented and focused.”
“And if you just give us some structure to the mindset, the professionalism and the high standards that we hold ourselves to, not individuals, but those high standards and professionalism that we hold to each other. I remember the first time I saw Ibra, I remember the first time I saw Azmat, I remember the first time I saw Gurbaz and thought, what amazing players. And let’s try to build on what we have with natural talent. Cool. We had the names Mujeeb, Nabi, Rashid, all these guys, but it’s just one of those things and I remember how chaotic that first tour is to where we are now,” Trott said.
The Englishman said he was impressed with how the Afghan players are performing at a high level despite the problems they face at home with a lack of infrastructure and cricket academies to nurture them at the youth level.
Players need so much recognition because of the level they operate at and the advantages and things they have as young people to develop their skills and passion for the game. They operate at such a high level compared to other countries, but they can still come on that stage and compete and almost people expect us to be in the semi-finals and finals, which I think is amazing that they can do it, they manage the pressure but also the facilities, they don’t have the kind of day-to-day coaching that young players have, academies and schools and all that stuff.
‘I TAKE OFF MY HAT TO EVERYONE’
Ahead of the Canada match, Rashid Khan paid a warm tribute to Trott and Ibrahim Zadran dedicated his player to the match to the outgoing coach. Trott thanked all his players and promised to remain a fan of the team even after leaving the job.
“The amount of coaching I’ve had compared to the coaching these lads are doing at international level now is chalk and cheese. So I take my hat off to every one of them. And for me it’s the level they operate at, it always amazes me and watching from afar I’m always going to be very happy and want the lads to do well,” Trott said.
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Published on:
February 20, 2026