Published in Cricket Pakistan on Nov 7th, 2019,
Former the Men in Green head coach was optimistic about the team’s future
Former Pakistan Head Coach Mickey Arthur believes that the Men in Green will become a formidable Twenty20 unit once again, despite the recent dip in form.
Pakistan have won none of their previous five T20I matches, with three losses at home against Sri Lanka and a washout followed by a defeat against Australia — going one-nil down in the ongoing three-match series.
While talking during a television show, Arthur said that the team’s confidence will be restored once they start winning.
“T20 cricket is a momentum game, once you win a couple of games, the confidence will come back and once that happens, Pakistan will become a formidable unit again,” said Arthur.
Arthur also threw his weight behind former the Men in Green captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, after the latter was sacked as skipper from all formats.
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“Sarfaraz was ahead of the game in T20 cricket. He captained unbelievably well in this format. His own form let him down but he captained exceptionally well. That’s a lot of experience from behind the stumps that’s suddenly gone out of the equation,” he said.
He also raised question marks over the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s decision to remove Sarfaraz from captaincy but was optimistic about the future, as well, under the leadership of new captain Babar Azam.
“The current run is beginning to develop into more of a blip, which is why one could question the need for all the change, because it’s something that was working fairly well with Sarfaraz at the helm. This was the one format where we were going well,” he said. “Captaincy hasn’t affected his [Babar’s] batting and that’s a good thing. That’ll be tested as he gets more into his captaincy; he’s on a honeymoon period right now. I think Babar will be fine as captain, he’ll figure it out.”
Pakistan will face Australia in the final T20I of the three-match series on Friday, November 8. The visitors, who are also the number one ranked T20 side in the world, will be looking to avoid their second consecutive series defeat in the shortest format of the game.