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27 October - Chennai - Pakistan Head Coach Mickey Arthur post-match press conference
[Reporter:]
So near, yet so far. How will you assess this situation? What is not happening with our team? What's going wrong? I mean, it's just hard to digest, hard to understand. We were a world-class team a couple of months back and now.
[Mickey Arthur:]
Yeah, look to be brutally honest, we haven't put together the perfect game yet. I don't think we've batted well enough yet as a unit. Yeah, I think that pitch, certainly par on that pitch is 300 at least. So, we haven't put together enough runs. And then we haven't put together a bowling performance that goes with it. So tonight, I thought was our best bowling performance of the competition. 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. 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.
[Reporter:]
Two defeats in Chennai, but how much energy did you draw from that crowd?
[Mickey Arthur:]
Yeah, the crowd was outstanding tonight. It was really good. You know, take the results out the way. Chennai has been outstanding. Training facilities, everything has been brilliant. And the crowd tonight was fantastic. And I think at least we've kind of given the World Cup the close finish that it needed to sort of kick-start it on. It's just a pity we were on the wrong side of that.
[Reporter:]
You had your number one ranked side not too long ago and you had played a lot of matches against New Zealand at home. Did all of it put together sort of hide the holes in the team especially on the batting front? Was it like did it make it too complex when coming to the World Cup?
[Mickey Arthur:]
Yeah, look I think at a World Cup you've got to be playing your best game at the at the right time. Our form had sort of drifted off a little bit. And there's various [reasons]. We talk about it every day as to what it could have been. But our form kind of drifted off. And again, we haven't put the perfect games together. We've batted well, we haven't bowled well. I do think our fielding standards have been average. So, there's a lot of work that we need to put in to manage and get to the standards required to win a World Cup. But those are the things we talk about every day. Those are the things when we go to the training ground, we train every day. We want to work to world-class standards, which we do in terms of our preparation. Again, form just hasn't allowed us opportunity to put the perfect game together.
[Reporter:]
When your team plays as competitively as they did tonight, and they've lost the three previous games, and they give it everything, and they still go down, how do you get them off the floor?
[Mickey Arthur:]
Yeah look, tonight is a totally different feeling in that dressing room to the Afghanistan game. The Afghanistan game was - we were average in all departments. Tonight, we were okay with the bat, I thought we were very good with the ball. And tonight, I'm really proud of those [players] because they fought right to the bitter end.
We were below par with the bat, I think. As I said, I thought 300 was the par score - But our bowlers had given us a real chance there and they've given it everything. It's a really disappointed dressing room and our players I know we can be proud of tonight because they've left everything, everything on the ground. They've given it their best shot. And that's all you can ask.
[Reporter:]
There is still hope Pakistan reach the semi-final?
[Mickey Arthur:]
You never know. What I do know is that we need to go and assess combinations again, we need to have a look at the holes we have within our team. We need to we need to start improving in a lot of areas and we've got to go home and finish this tournament with three victories. That's what I do know. Every day we'll be trying and we'll be striving to do that.
[Reporter:]
So, about your batting, the batters did get the start, but they couldn't carry the momentum too far ahead. And as you said, it was a 300 wicket. Considering the situation in the 42nd over, you were 250 and 50 more runs would have surely taken you. But what exactly went wrong? Did the pitch play the tricks or did the South Africans bowl really well?
[Mickey Arthur:]
No, it was a mixture of both. I don't think we batted particularly well at the back end. But we always set ourselves up to have, you've got to have one of your top four in at over 40. And you talk about the success that we've had over the last year; we've had one of our top four generally getting hundreds. We've had two hundreds this competition so far in the same game.
So, we've had players get in. We've had players get starts. We haven't had players go through. And I thought, I don't think we managed the last five overs particularly well tonight. There was still, at one point, in the 45th over, I remember saying to the dressing room a run a ball gets us 295 and a little bit more we've got us 300. I know we would have defended 300 tonight. So, I don't think we managed that back end particularly well at all. And we left 10 - 12 balls out there that we didn't face.
[Reporter:]
I don't know whether you're superstitious, but on this day last year you lost to Zimbabwe by one run in world T20. Today you lost by one wicket. Are you still hopeful that you will go on to reach the final?
[Mickey Arthur:]
Well, I was actually watching that game. I wasn't coaching. I was in Perth then. Yeah, look, as I say, we've just got to put our best foot forward. I'm the first one to stand here and I don't think we've played well enough at this World Cup. I don't think we've had enough form. I don't think we've gelled completely as a unit yet. And there are some holes in the team that have been exposed. And we need to look at those, and we need to fill them. And we need to bounce back very quickly. And we need to play to our potential in the next three games.
[Reporter:]
Before this match, PCB had started to put blames on Chief Selector Inzamam ul Haq, Captain Barbar Azam. You think accountability investigation will follow and who to blame for this?
[Mickey Arthur:]
They're going to be blaming everybody, don't worry. It's just the way of the world. Yeah, look, it's unfair. It's really unfair to start a witch hunt, certainly on Babar Azam, on Inzi, on our coaches, on the management team. 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.
[Reporter:]
So near, yet so far. How will you assess this situation? What is not happening with our team? What's going wrong? I mean, it's just hard to digest, hard to understand. We were a world-class team a couple of months back and now.
[Mickey Arthur:]
Yeah, look to be brutally honest, we haven't put together the perfect game yet. I don't think we've batted well enough yet as a unit. Yeah, I think that pitch, certainly par on that pitch is 300 at least. So, we haven't put together enough runs. And then we haven't put together a bowling performance that goes with it. So tonight, I thought was our best bowling performance of the competition. 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. 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.
[Reporter:]
Two defeats in Chennai, but how much energy did you draw from that crowd?
[Mickey Arthur:]
Yeah, the crowd was outstanding tonight. It was really good. You know, take the results out the way. Chennai has been outstanding. Training facilities, everything has been brilliant. And the crowd tonight was fantastic. And I think at least we've kind of given the World Cup the close finish that it needed to sort of kick-start it on. It's just a pity we were on the wrong side of that.
[Reporter:]
You had your number one ranked side not too long ago and you had played a lot of matches against New Zealand at home. Did all of it put together sort of hide the holes in the team especially on the batting front? Was it like did it make it too complex when coming to the World Cup?
[Mickey Arthur:]
Yeah, look I think at a World Cup you've got to be playing your best game at the at the right time. Our form had sort of drifted off a little bit. And there's various [reasons]. We talk about it every day as to what it could have been. But our form kind of drifted off. And again, we haven't put the perfect games together. We've batted well, we haven't bowled well. I do think our fielding standards have been average. So, there's a lot of work that we need to put in to manage and get to the standards required to win a World Cup. But those are the things we talk about every day. Those are the things when we go to the training ground, we train every day. We want to work to world-class standards, which we do in terms of our preparation. Again, form just hasn't allowed us opportunity to put the perfect game together.
[Reporter:]
When your team plays as competitively as they did tonight, and they've lost the three previous games, and they give it everything, and they still go down, how do you get them off the floor?
[Mickey Arthur:]
Yeah look, tonight is a totally different feeling in that dressing room to the Afghanistan game. The Afghanistan game was - we were average in all departments. Tonight, we were okay with the bat, I thought we were very good with the ball. And tonight, I'm really proud of those [players] because they fought right to the bitter end.
We were below par with the bat, I think. As I said, I thought 300 was the par score - But our bowlers had given us a real chance there and they've given it everything. It's a really disappointed dressing room and our players I know we can be proud of tonight because they've left everything, everything on the ground. They've given it their best shot. And that's all you can ask.
[Reporter:]
There is still hope Pakistan reach the semi-final?
[Mickey Arthur:]
You never know. What I do know is that we need to go and assess combinations again, we need to have a look at the holes we have within our team. We need to we need to start improving in a lot of areas and we've got to go home and finish this tournament with three victories. That's what I do know. Every day we'll be trying and we'll be striving to do that.
[Reporter:]
So, about your batting, the batters did get the start, but they couldn't carry the momentum too far ahead. And as you said, it was a 300 wicket. Considering the situation in the 42nd over, you were 250 and 50 more runs would have surely taken you. But what exactly went wrong? Did the pitch play the tricks or did the South Africans bowl really well?
[Mickey Arthur:]
No, it was a mixture of both. I don't think we batted particularly well at the back end. But we always set ourselves up to have, you've got to have one of your top four in at over 40. And you talk about the success that we've had over the last year; we've had one of our top four generally getting hundreds. We've had two hundreds this competition so far in the same game.
So, we've had players get in. We've had players get starts. We haven't had players go through. And I thought, I don't think we managed the last five overs particularly well tonight. There was still, at one point, in the 45th over, I remember saying to the dressing room a run a ball gets us 295 and a little bit more we've got us 300. I know we would have defended 300 tonight. So, I don't think we managed that back end particularly well at all. And we left 10 - 12 balls out there that we didn't face.
[Reporter:]
I don't know whether you're superstitious, but on this day last year you lost to Zimbabwe by one run in world T20. Today you lost by one wicket. Are you still hopeful that you will go on to reach the final?
[Mickey Arthur:]
Well, I was actually watching that game. I wasn't coaching. I was in Perth then. Yeah, look, as I say, we've just got to put our best foot forward. I'm the first one to stand here and I don't think we've played well enough at this World Cup. I don't think we've had enough form. I don't think we've gelled completely as a unit yet. And there are some holes in the team that have been exposed. And we need to look at those, and we need to fill them. And we need to bounce back very quickly. And we need to play to our potential in the next three games.
[Reporter:]
Before this match, PCB had started to put blames on Chief Selector Inzamam ul Haq, Captain Barbar Azam. You think accountability investigation will follow and who to blame for this?
[Mickey Arthur:]
They're going to be blaming everybody, don't worry. It's just the way of the world. Yeah, look, it's unfair. It's really unfair to start a witch hunt, certainly on Babar Azam, on Inzi, on our coaches, on the management team. 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.
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