We are one win away from our best: Pak team director Arthur

Despite a string of poor performances – in Asia Cup and warm-up games – Arthur said that they are one win away from their best cricket.

Hyderabad: Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur is confident that his team will get back to winning ways when they clash against minnow the Netherlands on Friday.

Despite a string of poor performances – in Asia Cup and warm-up games – Arthur said that they are one win away from their best cricket. “We are a very good cricket team and that’s part of the reason why I came back. Our bowling attack is one of the best and with runs on the board, our bowlers can generally defend that. So you watch the likes of England and Australia playing a brand of cricket but we play a brand called the Pakistan way and it suits our team’s dynamics and hopefully, we can win the World Cup with this,” he said on the eve of their opening match.

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On their bowlers, he added, “Form comes and goes but the quality of the players in the positions is undoubted. We are just making sure that those guys are there in a great space technically and mentally and hopefully they click tomorrow and from there the confidence just grows. I have no worries about the skills of the players. They are one performance away from getting their confidence and hopefully, we get that one tomorrow.”

He backed struggling batters Fakhar Zaman and Imam-Ul-Haq to come good. “We have got some fine players. Yes Rizwan and Babar are exceptional players but let’s not forget that we have got Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman is a quality player and so is Saud Sakeel and Agha Samlan. These are very good players”

Further, Arthur said that Shadab Khan will also hit form and he would be crucial to Pakistan’s fortunes. “I wholeheartedly back Shadab’s ability and he is a wonderful cricketer. He is exceptional and he is a bit short of confidence. He is one performance away from getting the confidence back and will have a really big influence in this World Cup. I am not worried about Shadab.”

Meanwhile, Netherlands’ all-rounder Bas de Leede is confident that his team will spring a surprise or two in the tournament. “For us, obviously it’s special being back for the first time since 2011, but we’ve set our goal high which is making the semifinal and I don’t think if we don’t make it, we’re a failure or anything like that. If we don’t make it, but we have played our best cricket, we can still be proud of ourselves.”

He also rued that lack of game time is a worry for the side, but they want to do their best on the given day. “It was a shame that the warm-up games got rained off. But I think in the nets, we try and replicate game scenarios and try and be as competitive as we can when bowling to each other, when facing each other,” said Bas.