Sharjah: Mickey Arthur, who doubles up as coach of the Karachi Kings besides the Pakistan national team, has backed explosive opener Chris Gayle to come good during the Pakistan Super League. The giant West Indian’s scores in the four matches so far in the event are 2, 10, 5 and 2.
“Gayle is the best T20 cricketer in the world. That is the brand he lives by. We’ve just got to keep backing him and keep hoping that he has got one or two performances in him. Any tournament I have been involved with Chris, like in the CPL and with Western Australia, he always finds a way to win you a game somewhere along the line and what I am seeing now is a player who is hurting at the moment because he hasn’t performed up to his past tag.
“He hasn’t performed up to the expectation on him. There is a lot in him that wants to come out and I am hoping that it comes out in the next couple of games and he gets us over the line,” the South African said.
Arthur is right now delighted with the first win of his team over Islamabad on Friday night. “I have always said that we just needed to get some momentum and just to get that first win on the board I think is good. It has been a long time coming. We normally had a bad day it is good to get the win, really a lot of relief in the dressing room. They all had worked hard and have been fantastic but to get that win just hopefully gets us some momentum.”
Arthur then hailed Babar Azam’s unbeaten knock of 47 by playing the anchor role. “Babar played that role brilliantly. He is developing every day as a player. He has been phenomenal. I think he is going to get only better and better. For him to see the game through right to the end was pretty special.”
When Arthur was asked about whether Misbah would continue as Pakistan skipper for the oncoming West Indies series, Arthur said: “I am scheduled to have another chat with Misbah next week and we will see how that all transpires. The one thing that for certain is Misbah has been fantastic for Pakistan cricket. He has been a great leader and he has been a great servant and he deserves all the accolades that he will get eventually whether that is now or whenever he does go. So I can’t shed any more light on that because I don’t know and I am not even sure that Misbah knows it himself.”
As Pakistan coach what does he feel of the PSL as a tournament?
“It’s a great tournament. One thing for me which has been great as a Pakistan coach is working with other young Pakistan players. We are seeing the emergence of some really good Pakistan players. I thought Shadab Khan has bowled beautifully after coming back from injury. Fakhar Zaman of Lahore Qalandars certainly looks a real talent. So for me it has been great just to have a look at other Pakistan talents. When we go back at the end of the PSL we will invite these fringe players to the training camps so that we can work with them and hopefully impact on them and then we can follow their careers with a lot of interest and also take the best out of them and make them international players. So it has been a very efficient tournament.”
