Pakistan cricket team would be in a state of shock after losing a nail bitter against South Africa. In the last 10 overs of the match, there was drama as Pakistan almost won the contest but Keshav Maharaj pulled off a heist. Mickey Arthur stated that fingers would be pointed on the team and management. Mickey Arthur pointed out that it was a pretty good performance by Pakistan irrespective of the result.
Pakistani fans would be dejected as with this defeat, there are chances that Pakistan would miss out on the WC 2023 semi-final qualification. The Babar Azam-led side has lost 4 matches out of 6 and is placed at 6 position on the points table and now the side has to hope that other results go in their favor if they want to reach the knock-out stages.
It won’t be wrong to say that the sudden absence of Hasan Ali from the playing 11 was highly questionable she was reported to be ill. Skipper Babar Azam struck a half century but in a big match, the skipper should have made the most of the start as another 30 odd runs would have made a massive difference in the end.
The boys have tried and the effort of the players has been first-class- Mickey Arthur
Mickey Arthur, the director of cricket was seen in the post-match press conference. Mickey Arthur pointed out that there would be questions raised over the team’s defeat but he was impressed with the effort and commitment shown by the unit. Mickey Arthur stated that the batting unit didn’t click which hurt the team.
“They’re going to be blaming everybody, don’t worry. It’s just the way of the world. It’s really unfair to start a witch-hunt, certainly on Babar Azam, on Inzi [chief selector, Inzamam-ul-Haq], on our coaches, on the management team,” said Mickey Arthur.
“What I do know is the boys have tried and the effort of the coaching staff, the effort of the players has been first-class. If they would see that the amount of effort that the players and staff put in, they would be amazed,” he stated.
“Tonight, I thought was our best bowling performance of the competition. I thought we bowled really well, but I still thought we were under-par in terms of the runs that we had. We haven’t put the perfect game together yet. It hasn’t been for lack of effort, hasn’t been for lack of trying, but we just haven’t got enough players in form at the minute, particularly with the bat,” he added.