Last Update on: November 12th, 2023 at 10:03 am
Mickey Arthur has thrown his support behind under-fire captain Babar Azam after Pakistan’s disappointing end to their campaign in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
A 93-run defeat against England, on Saturday (November 11), brought an end to Pakistan’s campaign in the marquee event. The Men in Green finished at the fifth spot with 4 wins from 9 games. The Babar Azam-led side began the World Cup with two wins before losing four in a row including a first-ever ODI defeat against Afghanistan.
Pakistan got back to winning ways with victories over Bangladesh and New Zealand but it was just too late to revive their campaign. And while they would have liked to bow out of the World Cup with a win, England inflicted a fifth defeat of the campaign on them. After scoring 337 for 9, the reigning champions bowled out Pakistan for 244.
Mickey Arthur backs Babar Azam:
Speculations are rife that Babar Azam is set to lose the captaincy after Pakistan’s dismal campaign in the ODI World Cup. And with the star batter facing the heat, he has received some much-needed support from Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s director of cricket. The former Pakistan coach stated that Babar Azam is still new to captaincy and should be backed while also emphasizing the need to become a team that constantly scores 300-350 in ODIs.
“We’re a real tight-knit unit. I get behind Babar. He’s very close to me. He’s a young guy who is still learning. He’s a very fine batsman, and he learns every day with his captaincy. He’s growing, and we have to allow him the time to grow.
“In order to do that, you make mistakes. It’s not a crime to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. As a group, we’ve made many mistakes, but if this group learns from them, we have the core of a very good side,” Arthur said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“What we’ve seen is that we’re behind the 8-ball. Our game needs to go to another level. We missed Naseem Shah – if we get him back, our bowling attack is good. But batting-wise, we have to become a 330-350 team. The teams that do that consistently are the teams in the semi-finals. We do that when Fakhar Zaman comes off, but we can’t be relying on one player,” he added.
