BIRMINGHAM:When Micky Arthur arrived with the Australian team for the Champions Trophy in England in 2013, little would he have predicted that the axe was coming. A first-round exit, days before the Ashes, led to him unceremoniously being shown the door a year and a half into his job.
A few stints across T20 leagues later, Arthur was given the reins of Pakistan, a team that was going to lose two irreplaceable players in Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. But it was the ODI format that was the biggest challenge. He also had to deal with a notorious board with a habit of changing coaches and captains on a whim, or due to popular sentiment, rather than following logic.
For a board that has failed to get the attraction of foreign coaches, it was surprising that Arthur took up the task. Despite taking South Africa to unprecedented highs as coach in his five-year tenure as coach, he left the job following differences with skipper Graeme Smith and Cricket South Africa. His stint with Australia also had the homework controversy in 2013.
A successful coach, with a reputation to restore, was now taking over a side that was close to missing out on automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup. They eventually sealed that spot with victory over West Indies, but Arthur is living in an environment where there is no guarantee he’ll be in job once the Champions Trophy finishes.
It’ll take something significant for Pakistan to even make the semifinals, as their old-fashioned style of cricket hasn’t taken them anywhere. Add to it incompetent batsmen, fielding that can shame even school-cricketers and a crop of bowlers who pick up cramps in the ninth over on a rainy day.
After losing to India on Sunday, a Pakistan journalist mentioned that the team was playing even worse than at the time he took over. The South African called it an insult, and it was a press conference that tested his calmness. Someone even dared him to take the blame for playing Wahab Riaz over Junaid Khan. “He performed poorly, but had a role. And I’ll take the blame, for selecting him. He played because I wanted him to perform a role. Okay? He didn’t execute, unfortunately. So sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” Arthur said.
Not that the 49-year-old hasn’t been trying. There’s now more emphasis on fitness in his side, and he spends extra hours with players during practice. But they lost two good players to corruption charges, and the country doesn’t have a strong domestic structure. And results just don’t seem to coming.
“The worry over a period of time is that we get basics wrong, and don’t understand when to bowl variations. We bowl five good balls, then bowl a variation which ends up going for a boundary. So it’s the simplicity of things that worry me at the moment, and our understanding of when to do certain things,” he added.
Over the last year, Arthur has seen the team scale the peak in Tests, before falling off that peak. The team’s ODI form is even less-inspiring, and questions are already being directed at him over contributions, never mind the fact that it’s players who not performed. Pakistan can be unforgiving to its coaches and who knows, Arthur might after all join that list.
8 Pakistan are currently ranked eighth in the ICC ODI rankings, the lowest among all teams participating in the Champions Trophy. Last year, Pakistan were danger of not qualifying for the tournament, before a series win against Sri Lanka helped them get through.
6 No of ODI matches Pakistan have won, out of 22 played against Test-playing countries (excluding West Indies and Zimbabwe) in the last two years.
Afridi urges overhaul after ‘shameful defeat’ to India
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan faced calls for a total overhaul on Monday after slumping to a “shameful defeat” against arch-rivals India at the Champions Trophy in England. “Pakistan suffers shameful defeat at the hands of India in Champions Trophy, Green Shirts fail in every department,” said Jang, Pakistan’s highest-circulation newspaper.Former captain Shahid Afridi was among several to call for a major shake-up. “The gap between India and Pakistan teams is bigger than ever,” he said.