Abdullah719
T20I Captain
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Runs
- 44,825
"Could question the need for changes, it was working well with Sarfaraz at the helm" : Mickey Arthur
Mickey Arthur speaking on Straight Drive after the 2nd T20I against Australia:
"Babar did what Babar does, but very impressed with Iftikhar. Pakistan are looking for a finisher and Ifti did a fantastic job and got Pakistan back in the game. He surprised me a bit, he scored off both front and back foot which was impressive. He hits from a very stable base which allows him to get his power through the ball. He was very impressive and I'm really happy with that performance"
"The bowlers did as well as could be expected, the batters were I think 20 runs short. As Steve Smith said, around 170 was par"
"Pakistan had no substantial partnership through the innings, no one really helped Babar. Thank God for Ifti at the back end as he finished as well as could ever be expected. Losing key wickets at crucial times is something they'll have to look at"
"Despite getting the openers out early, they had still scored quite quick and given the innings impetus. Getting Smith out after that was key, to expose the middle-order a bit more"
"Iftikhar was the biggest plus for Pakistan. It's been well documented that Pakistan have been looking for power hitters, guys who can finish an innings. If Iftikhar keeps this up, he could be that guy. He showed the ability to play the short balls, he pulled well and hit powerfully down the ground"
"The rest of the batsmen weren't good enough. Fakhar Zaman failing at the top leads to that. Rizzi is showing some promise but the ability to keep rotating the strike is missing. Haris Sohail played out of character, I'm of the opinion he should be there when the spinners are bowling"
"It's worth sending Asif Ali up the order if Fakhar Zaman falls early. Clearly 150 isn't good enough, let him go and play. At the moment, there's too much responsibility on Babar"
"Captaincy hasn't affected his batting and that's a good thing. That'll be tested as he gets more into his captaincy, he's on a honeymoon period right now. I like the way he's hitting the ball nice and late, that's key in Australia. His contact point is right under his eyes which allows him to open up the off-side. The other Pakistani batsmen are very anxious and getting out in front of them which leads to loss of shape, loss of power etc."
"I think Babar will be fine as captain, he'll figure it out. The first over should've gone to Amir, he's the leader"
"Iftikhar said they were targeting 180-190, that's dangerous. When you target a score, you end up thinking about that all the time and fall well short. If you lower that a bit, you pace yourself for that and then 1-2 big overs can get you to 180-185. A little shift in thinking. Aim a bit lower, what's par. If par is 165, aim for that and you'll probably end up getting more. If you aim big, you end up getting less because aiming big, you take more risks and those can be taken in the death overs. You can always catch up if you have wickets in hand and you have batsmen in"
"Mohammad Amir swung the ball, Irfan was OK, Shadab looked good. If Pakistan manage to get some more runs, Australia would've had to take risks against the likes of Shadab which would've possibly meant wickets. Pakistan need to look at that batting order"
"If I was in the dressing room, we'd have a brief chat. Tonight would be about lifting spirits and looking forward, and before the next training session, we'd do our review of this game and point out what we needed to work on, tweak game plans, etc"
"The dressing room will be hurting, they're very proud, they take a lot of pride in their performances as you'd expect. They need to have honest, mature performances which makes things positive going forward"
"I wonder how much of Babar's decision making is being dictated from the dressing room. I was always a coach who liked the bowler taking charge of his field, and then speak with the captain and they talk about the plan and field settings. Hopefully that's happening. Babar will be getting a load of advice. The main thing is that Babar needs to remain his own man, once he takes advice from too many quarters, he'll be put under pressure"
"I like that (Babar's reaction to Asif Ali). That's the honest conversation that needs to happen, Babar wasn't happy, there was a 2 on the previous ball if Asif is running hard. Babar is the man in form, he's looking to take charge, he needs to get back on strike. And then to get out on the next ball, that's criminal"
"The current run is beginning to develop into more of a blip... That's why one could question the need for all the change, because it's something that was working fairly well with Sarfaraz at the helm. This was the one format where we were going well. But they'll figure it out. T20 cricket is a momentum game, once you win a couple of games, the confidence will come back and once that happens, Pakistan will become a formidable unit again"
"You do need experience in the squad. The way you should select is you should have a gameplan and strategy that will win you a World Cup then select the players around that strategy, who will play those roles you require. Strategy first, players afterwards, clear role definition then back the players to create security"
"Sarfaraz was ahead of the game in T20 cricket. He captained unbelievably well in this format. His own form let him down but he captained exceptionally well. That's a lot of experience from behind the stumps that's suddenly gone out of the equation"
"If Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik are performing, they could be brought back. Certainly room for one of them, if you look at how 3-5 are playing. Hafeez did well for us in UAE against AUS/NZ and then we had Malik at 5 to finish innings with experience. He ran hard and had enough power to hit balls out of the ground so he played an important role. I'm sure those names will be discussed"
"If you replace Fakhar, you bring in Imam-ul-Haq whose game has gone to another level, he's been proficient in the other formats. His T20 game has got a lot better but if you put him at the top, it's more of the same with Imam, Haris and Rizwan who are all similar players. If you lose Babar early, you could get caught up a bit in terms of the scoring rate. Maybe you can get Iftikhar in up the order; I'd give Fakhar till the end of the series. You've gotta keep someone there who is different and taking pressure off Babar. You've got to get Haris there when the spinners are on. What the quicks will do with him is bowl bouncers and he'll duck them. I'd give him the license to come in and take on the spinners. I'd like to see Asif going in earlier too. If you do that, you can have Iftikhar finishing the innings which gives you a better balance"
"I'd play Hasnain, you need a right-armer and he'd replace Irfan. Hasnain brings a different angle"
"Against Australia, you need bowlers who can bring the ball back in specially to their right handers and not give them any room. The likes of Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf did that well in UAE. With Irfan and Wahab, the batsmen go deep in their crease and the angle of the ball is going across them so they can get a lot of runs towards the off-side"
Mickey Arthur speaking on Straight Drive after the 2nd T20I against Australia:
"Babar did what Babar does, but very impressed with Iftikhar. Pakistan are looking for a finisher and Ifti did a fantastic job and got Pakistan back in the game. He surprised me a bit, he scored off both front and back foot which was impressive. He hits from a very stable base which allows him to get his power through the ball. He was very impressive and I'm really happy with that performance"
"The bowlers did as well as could be expected, the batters were I think 20 runs short. As Steve Smith said, around 170 was par"
"Pakistan had no substantial partnership through the innings, no one really helped Babar. Thank God for Ifti at the back end as he finished as well as could ever be expected. Losing key wickets at crucial times is something they'll have to look at"
"Despite getting the openers out early, they had still scored quite quick and given the innings impetus. Getting Smith out after that was key, to expose the middle-order a bit more"
"Iftikhar was the biggest plus for Pakistan. It's been well documented that Pakistan have been looking for power hitters, guys who can finish an innings. If Iftikhar keeps this up, he could be that guy. He showed the ability to play the short balls, he pulled well and hit powerfully down the ground"
"The rest of the batsmen weren't good enough. Fakhar Zaman failing at the top leads to that. Rizzi is showing some promise but the ability to keep rotating the strike is missing. Haris Sohail played out of character, I'm of the opinion he should be there when the spinners are bowling"
"It's worth sending Asif Ali up the order if Fakhar Zaman falls early. Clearly 150 isn't good enough, let him go and play. At the moment, there's too much responsibility on Babar"
"Captaincy hasn't affected his batting and that's a good thing. That'll be tested as he gets more into his captaincy, he's on a honeymoon period right now. I like the way he's hitting the ball nice and late, that's key in Australia. His contact point is right under his eyes which allows him to open up the off-side. The other Pakistani batsmen are very anxious and getting out in front of them which leads to loss of shape, loss of power etc."
"I think Babar will be fine as captain, he'll figure it out. The first over should've gone to Amir, he's the leader"
"Iftikhar said they were targeting 180-190, that's dangerous. When you target a score, you end up thinking about that all the time and fall well short. If you lower that a bit, you pace yourself for that and then 1-2 big overs can get you to 180-185. A little shift in thinking. Aim a bit lower, what's par. If par is 165, aim for that and you'll probably end up getting more. If you aim big, you end up getting less because aiming big, you take more risks and those can be taken in the death overs. You can always catch up if you have wickets in hand and you have batsmen in"
"Mohammad Amir swung the ball, Irfan was OK, Shadab looked good. If Pakistan manage to get some more runs, Australia would've had to take risks against the likes of Shadab which would've possibly meant wickets. Pakistan need to look at that batting order"
"If I was in the dressing room, we'd have a brief chat. Tonight would be about lifting spirits and looking forward, and before the next training session, we'd do our review of this game and point out what we needed to work on, tweak game plans, etc"
"The dressing room will be hurting, they're very proud, they take a lot of pride in their performances as you'd expect. They need to have honest, mature performances which makes things positive going forward"
"I wonder how much of Babar's decision making is being dictated from the dressing room. I was always a coach who liked the bowler taking charge of his field, and then speak with the captain and they talk about the plan and field settings. Hopefully that's happening. Babar will be getting a load of advice. The main thing is that Babar needs to remain his own man, once he takes advice from too many quarters, he'll be put under pressure"
"I like that (Babar's reaction to Asif Ali). That's the honest conversation that needs to happen, Babar wasn't happy, there was a 2 on the previous ball if Asif is running hard. Babar is the man in form, he's looking to take charge, he needs to get back on strike. And then to get out on the next ball, that's criminal"
"The current run is beginning to develop into more of a blip... That's why one could question the need for all the change, because it's something that was working fairly well with Sarfaraz at the helm. This was the one format where we were going well. But they'll figure it out. T20 cricket is a momentum game, once you win a couple of games, the confidence will come back and once that happens, Pakistan will become a formidable unit again"
"You do need experience in the squad. The way you should select is you should have a gameplan and strategy that will win you a World Cup then select the players around that strategy, who will play those roles you require. Strategy first, players afterwards, clear role definition then back the players to create security"
"Sarfaraz was ahead of the game in T20 cricket. He captained unbelievably well in this format. His own form let him down but he captained exceptionally well. That's a lot of experience from behind the stumps that's suddenly gone out of the equation"
"If Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik are performing, they could be brought back. Certainly room for one of them, if you look at how 3-5 are playing. Hafeez did well for us in UAE against AUS/NZ and then we had Malik at 5 to finish innings with experience. He ran hard and had enough power to hit balls out of the ground so he played an important role. I'm sure those names will be discussed"
"If you replace Fakhar, you bring in Imam-ul-Haq whose game has gone to another level, he's been proficient in the other formats. His T20 game has got a lot better but if you put him at the top, it's more of the same with Imam, Haris and Rizwan who are all similar players. If you lose Babar early, you could get caught up a bit in terms of the scoring rate. Maybe you can get Iftikhar in up the order; I'd give Fakhar till the end of the series. You've gotta keep someone there who is different and taking pressure off Babar. You've got to get Haris there when the spinners are on. What the quicks will do with him is bowl bouncers and he'll duck them. I'd give him the license to come in and take on the spinners. I'd like to see Asif going in earlier too. If you do that, you can have Iftikhar finishing the innings which gives you a better balance"
"I'd play Hasnain, you need a right-armer and he'd replace Irfan. Hasnain brings a different angle"
"Against Australia, you need bowlers who can bring the ball back in specially to their right handers and not give them any room. The likes of Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf did that well in UAE. With Irfan and Wahab, the batsmen go deep in their crease and the angle of the ball is going across them so they can get a lot of runs towards the off-side"
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