Sharjah. Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said he would be happy to see his team secure a clean sweep over Sri Lanka and would be disappointed if they fail to do so. Pakistan will play the fifth One-day match of the series at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, the venue which will host its 228th ODI match.
“I will be disappointed if we didn’t win 5-0 because the guys are hungry and the guys want to definitely do it. The key for us is to maintain our hunger and be ruthless. A record is not that far from us. We need to keep that momentum.”
When asked to comment on Sri Lankan coach Nic Pothas comment that Pakistan players can perform even at 3am, Arthur said: “It’s a compliment but that takes a long time to get right. The guys need to understand their roles and they need to know what is required off them. They have grown in to the role and grown into the styles we want them to play. We want to take wickets and attack.”
Amid all this is the news of a bookie approaching their skipper Safraz Ahmad. Arthur complimented Sarfraz’s reaction to it.
“To be honest the player reacted unbelievably well. He did everything required off him and we had a chat straight afterwards he met him. It was handled brilliantly and I think that is a real example to our team and to the cricket world that a really important player was approached and he acted to the letter of the law and did exceptionally well as a true ambassador of the game.”
Arthur has confidence in rest of his players too: “I am very comfortable with our players they are outstanding and intelligent young men. I have no doubt that if anyone is approached they will do the same.”
Arthur refused to be disturbed by Mohammad Hafeez’s bowling action being reported again.
“Hafeez is such an integral part of this one day side going forward in terms of what he brings with the ball particularly in these conditions. So that was disappointing, but I am confident. We spend the last couple of days going back on few videos and the stuff when he came back and we are confident that he is fine. I am pretty sure he is going to get through that problem.”
When asked about Fakhar Zaman unable to make big scores despite some good starts, Arthur said: Fakhar is a really good player. He played in England on really good wickets. The other wickets have been a lot slower and haven’t allowed him to play strokes as much as he could have done. The key for Fakhar now is learning to take strike a little bit more. So he is able to get one and get to the other end. That is going to be the key in his development as a batsman but he is still our X factor player and hopefully he may do well tomorrow.”
Arthur is also delighted over the rise of Hasan Ali and Babar Azam. “We have got a young guy (Hasan) who a year ago wasn’t in our team but is suddenly the No. 1 bowler in the world and also Babar Azam has moved to No. 4 in the world. Hafeez has gone back to No. 1 in brisk form of the game. That is a great compliment to those players and that also shows we have started to gel as a really good one day unit. Those guys have been outstanding.”
Arthur also revealed that pacer Mohammad Amir will be back in action during the T20 series
“Amir has done all his rehab. He bowled yesterday in Lahore and he went through fine. So we will obviously see him soon.”
