Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], October 5 (ANI): Prior to Pakistan’s opening game against the Netherlands, head coach Mickey Arthur has thrown his support behind all-rounder Shadab Khan to rediscover his mojo after a recently inconsistent string of performances.
Men in Green will open their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday.
The Pakistan vice-captain has had trouble contributing in the two warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand, scoring 16 and 9 runs while taking only one wicket in two appearances.
“I wholeheartedly back Shadab’s ability. He’s a wonderful cricketer. You look at his package of bowling, batting, fielding, he’s exceptional,” Arthur said in a pre-match press conference.
However, Arthur feels that the all-rounder needs just one strong performance to make an impression.
“If we look at his bowling in isolation, he’s just short of a little confidence. He hasn’t lost his ability to turn the ball. His googly is still very, very good. He’s one performance away from getting that confidence back and making sure that he has a real big influence on this World Cup,” Arthur added.
The form of the bowlers is also a cause of concern for Pakistan as they struggling to make inroads, however, captain Babar Azam will enter the tournament as the top-ranked ODI batter in the world.
However, Arthur claimed that there are many more players in Pakistan’s batting order who can produce some fine knocks.
“We’ve got some very, very fine players. Yes, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar are exceptional players, but let’s not forget that we’ve got Imam ul-Haq, I think, in the top five ODI players at the moment,” the Pakistan coach said.
“Fakhar Zaman, we know is quality, we know that. I think you guys will love watching Saud Shakeel bat. I think he’s quality. And then Abdullah Shafiq and Salman Ali Agha are very, very good players,” he added.
“It would be nice if Babar and Rizwan kept on scoring as they are scoring at the minute, it takes a bit of pressure off everybody else. But we have some very, very fine players outside of those two as well,” Arthur said.
Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim. (ANI)
