Mickey Arthur: A part of the attraction for me coming back was that all these young boys that I worked with have now become men
Mickey Arthur was excited when he was asked to return to the Pakistan team as the director of cricket in April of this year because of the appeal of seeing the young lads he initially trained in 2016 grow into men of significance today while he also started reworking their playing approach as soon as he took charge.
Mickey Arthur was excited when he was asked to return to the Pakistan team as the director of cricket in April of this year because of the appeal of seeing the young lads he initially trained in the 2016 grow into men of significance today.
He also started reworking their playing approach as soon as he took charge. The “Bazball” approach, which England has adapted over the last several years with tremendous success in Test cricket, is a variation of the batting reinvention.
Arthur acknowledges that one of his challenges was to get all the players to support the plan before trying to carry it out and getting everyone to stick with it in a situation with high stakes. And the outcomes are gradually getting better. Pakistan has the best win-loss record among all teams since the 2019 World Cup.
“A part of the attraction for me coming back was that all these young boys that I worked with have now become men,”
Arthur said ahead of Pakistan’s World Cup opener against the Netherlands.
“The brand of cricket, that’s something that we are trying to get through to our players. They have embraced it. It’s going take a take a little bit of time, but I always say this, there are always two ways to skin a cat.
“I think our bowling attack is up there as one of the best. And with runs on the board, our bowlers can generally defend that. You watch the likes of England and Australia playing this brand of cricket, ours will also follow that. There’s no doubt. They’re good enough to do that, but we are playing a brand that, we call it the ‘Pakistan way’. We are playing a brand that is very, very particular to Pakistan and suits our team, our team dynamic. That’s the brand that we are going play and hopefully win the World Cup with.”
Even though his squad may not quite fit the bill of pre-tournament favorites, Arthur is emphatic, if not downright gung-ho, about their chance at World Cup victory.
This is due in part to the fact that Naseem Shah’s injury has left them with a gaping bowling hole and that their spin pair of Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz hasn’t exactly been lighting up the pitch.
The team isn’t quite stressed yet, but Shadab’s lack of self-control and tendency to leak boundaries has become an issue. Nawaz is seen as a bowler who serves more as a holding option than an attacking one, in contrast to some of the other teams that have true match-winning spinners.
Shadab took six wickets during the Asia Cup included four against Nepal. He hasn’t produced particularly impressive ball returns since that game. But because of the X-factor performances he can produce, Arthur and other coaches tend to give him a longer rope.
Like in that one-wicket victory over Afghanistan, where Naseem’s courageous batting display at the end largely obscured Shadab’s contribution to saving a flagging innings.
“I wholeheartedly back Shadab,”
Arthur said.
“He’s a wonderful cricketer. You look at his package of bowling, batting, and fielding, it’s exceptional. If we look at his bowling in isolation, he’s just short of a little confidence. He hasn’t lost his ability to turn the ball. His googly is still very, very good. He’s one performance away from getting that confidence back and making sure that he has a really big influence on this World Cup. So I’d like that to come tomorrow [against Netherlands], but I’m not worried about Shadab because I know he’s a quality player.”
In addition, Arthur dismissed any worries the players might be experiencing due to playing in India. He said that the team’s unity will enable them to overcome any potential obstacles.
“The boys have loved being in India. They’ve embraced being here, which has been fantastic. The pressure of a World Cup is always massive, but I think our boys are in a really good place and part of the attraction for me is its very similar squad to what we had in 2019 and it’s almost unfinished business I felt in 2019.
“Look, they’re a very close group because they’ve played together for so long. They know each other backward. They’re not only team-mates, but they’re generally friends as well. I think that goes a long way to building that team spirit. So it does help with the gelling of the team as they’ve been tight for a long time now. They’ve had an outing in Hyderabad. They’ve enjoyed getting out for some dinner. But they just enjoy each other’s company and that makes my heart very happy.”
Pakistan will play the opening game of their World Cup 2023 against the Netherlands on October 6 in Hyderabad.
Netherlands squad: Scott Edwards (c), Max O’Dowd, Bas de Leede, Vikram Singh, Teja Nidamanuru, Paul van Meekeren, Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Ryan Klein, Wesley Barresi, Saqib Zulfiqar, Shariz Ahmad, Sybrand Engelbrecht.
Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim.