Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said his team’s four-run defeat in the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi was the “worst of his coaching career”.
Pakistan were set a target of 176 but they suffered a dramatic collapse, losing their last seven wickets for just 41 runs to lose by four runs.
Left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel had a fine debut for New Zealand as he picked up 5-59 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Coach Arthur said his players were hurting from the defeat.
“This is probably one of the worst defeats I have ever suffered in my career,” Arthur was quoted as saying by AFP.
“Everyone from myself as head coach to the players and the staff are hurting but we will use this defeat as a motivation to give ourselves every opportunity to win the second game,” said Arthur.
The win gave New Zealand a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Arthur said his players’ poor shot selection was to be blamed but insisted his batsmen were not complacent.
“There was no complacency, I can certainly say,” said Arthur. “The guys tried unbelievably hard and everyone was disappointed from the decision of shot selection under pressure. We need to learn from this and move forward very, very quickly.”
Arthur also lamented another failure to achieve small targets after falling short in their chase of 136 against Sri Lanka last year at the same venue.
“The most disappointing thing was that it happened against Sri Lanka last year as well,” he said. “That’s the thing the batting unit needs to get over and that we need to chase down targets in fourth innings.”
