“Look, to be brutally honest…”: Pakistan’s Mickey Arthur growls after his team loses to South Africa by one wicket. “Look, to be brutally honest…”
After Pakistan’s close loss to South Africa, the team’s director, Mickey Arthur, voiced his dissatisfaction with the team’s performance during the World Cup and emphasized the requirement for a flawless game in which all departments contribute collectively.
He also emphasized the necessity for a perfect game in which all departments jointly contribute.
In the game that took place in the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Pakistan scored a total of 270 runs, which is below average.
Despite this, they put forth a tremendous attempt through their bowlers, but in the end, they were defeated in the exciting competition by one wicket.
After their hopes of competing in the World Cup were dealt what appears to be a fatal blow on Friday, the director of the Pakistani squad, Mickey Arthur, issued a warning against conducting a “witch hunt.”
The one-wicket loss that Pakistan suffered at the hands out South Africa was their fourth loss out of the six games that they played in India.
If they want any chance of advancing to the semifinals, they will need to win all three of the matches they still have left and pray that other outcomes go in their favor.
After that, the team that had won the championship in 1992 lost to Australia, and then they were stunned by Afghanistan.
Pakistan is cornered and has nowhere to turn but forward. Pakistan is currently in a difficult position after suffering three straight defeats at the 2023 World Cup, one of which being an unexpected loss to Afghanistan. As a result, the future of their campaign is currently hanging by a thread.
Mickey Arthur, the team director, is certain that the team can make an amazing comeback starting on Friday when they take against a red-hot South African side in Ahmedabad.
Only a remarkable reversal might see Babar Azam and his men roar back into contention, but Mickey Arthur is confident that the team can accomplish this.
After getting off to a strong start in their World Cup campaign in the nation of India by beating Sri Lanka & the Netherlands at both of their opening matches in Hyderabad, Pakistan received a rude awakening at the hands of their fiercest rivals, India, in the lopsided matchup that took place in Ahmedabad.
Pakistan’s chances of advancing to the World Cup semifinals are steadily diminishing, despite the fact that their string of losses has allowed them to maintain their position as the fifth-place team in the points table.
This is due to the widening distance between them and the teams who are now ranked first through fourth.
However, Arthur is optimistic that the team’s fortune will take another huge turn starting on Friday, as he confessed that Pakistan are targeting a remarkable six-match winning streak in order to win the title.
“We said in the change room on that night that we’ve got six matches for winning the World Cup,” Arthur said to PCB Digital.
“We have six matches the win the World Cup.” “We need to win six games in a row and get on a roll,” the coach said.
As a group, we are aware that we are responsible for ensuring that we execute our strategy correctly one hundred percent of the time.
We have to be sure that every single one of our plays is executed perfectly, and if we are able to accomplish so, there isn’t a reason how we shouldn’t win the World Cup.
On Friday, Pakistan will play an in-form South Africa, which will present a difficult challenge for them.
The Proteas are currently in second place in the tournament’s points table after five games despite suffering only one defeat, which came at the hands of Afghanistan once again.
A partnership by Keshav Maharaj with Tabraiz Shamsi in the final over of the match ensured that Pakistan would suffer their worst run in the history of the World Cup, which consisted of four consecutive losses.
Despite this, it was a much more energetic performance than they had shown in their previous match at Chennai against Afghanistan the week before, let alone in their match against India in Ahmedabad a week before, which they lost by seven wickets.
The loss is not a sign that Pakistan is eliminated from contention for a position in the semifinals of the competition.
On the other hand, it appears that the post-mortem upon their campaign is already under progress.
“It’s really unfair to start a witch hunt, certainly and Babar Azam, on Inzi [chief selector, Inzamam-ul-Haq], on our coaches, and especially on the management team,” he further stated.
“What I do know is which of the boys have tried, & the effort that both the coaching staff and the players have put in has been first-class,” the head coach said.
They would be astounded if they saw how much effort both players and employees put in, which is something they haven’t seen yet.