Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said there is a crisis of confidence in his team at the moment after the men in green were decimated by India in their Asia Cup Super Four clash in Dubai on Sunday.
It was their second successive thrashing at the hands of the Indians with Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma hitting centuries as India chased down 238 with more than 10 overs to spare.
Pakistan failed in all three departments, even losing Babar Azam to a run-out and dropping Rohit twice. Arthur said the team is in a difficult position.
“We have to be realistic. We were well beaten by a very good Indian side. They didn’t allow us to play. We are a team that is developing. Sarfraz (Ahmed) and (Mohammad) Amir have 50 or more caps, Shoaib Malik with 200. Other than that the boys are young,” Arthur said.
“The boys will get better and better from this. We are not abandoning them. Yes they are suffering a bit of confidence crisis at the moment. There is fear of failure in the dressing room. There is a bit reality check of where we are as a cricket team.
“In terms of worst performance, nine wickets has to be up there.”
Pakistan’s match against Bangladesh on Wednesday is like a virtual semi-final with the winner of that clash facing India in the final after the Tigers edged past Afghanistan on Sunday. Arthur said pressure of performance brings the best out of his players.
“We have to win now (against Bangladesh). It’s a semi-final now. We have to find away to dig ourselves out of the hole we are in at the moment. We will come back from this.
“We are at our best in must-win matches. That’s when we come to the party. I believe in our players. I think they are a fantastic bunch of players.”
Pace ace: Jasprit Bumrah.
IMPRESSED BY BUMRAH
India pacer Jasprit Bumrah gave away just 29 runs from his 10 overs and picked up two wickets on Sunday. Bumrah has been by far the best fast bowler in the tournament and Arthur praised the bowler’s training.
“One thing that really impressed me… We were at optional training session the other day and I sat there for 20 minutes. I saw Jasprit Bumrah in a net next to us execute yorker after yorker after yorker. He put that into practice tonight. In our review, we will definitely show it to our young bowlers that his execution and even Bhuvneshwar’s in death overs was very good.”
