Pakistan Not Out of World Cup Yet, Says Arthur

CHENNAI, INDIA: October 28, 2023

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has defended captain Babar Azam from criticism after the team’s fourth consecutive defeat in the 2023 Cricket World Cup, saying it would be “really unfair” to start a witch hunt against him.

South Africa edged Pakistan by one wicket in a thrilling match in Chennai on Friday, leaving the defending champions on the brink of elimination. Azam scored 67 runs in the match, but his failure to convert it into a century was seen by some as a sign of his weakness under pressure.

However, Arthur was quick to defend his captain, saying that he had been “outstanding” throughout the tournament.

“It’s really unfair to start a witch hunt against Babar Azam,” Arthur said in the post-match press conference. “He’s been outstanding throughout this tournament. He’s scored two hundreds and a fifty, and he’s been averaging over 60. That’s a very good record for a captain in a World Cup.”

Arthur said that the team’s problems were not down to any one individual, but rather a collective failure.

“We haven’t batted well enough as a unit,” he said. “We’ve had two or three good individual performances, but we need to start putting together big partnerships. We also need to be more clinical with our bowling. We’ve been giving away too many soft runs.”

Pakistan now need to win their remaining two matches against the Netherlands and Bangladesh to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals. Arthur said that the team was still confident of their chances, but they would need to improve their performances significantly.

“We know that we’re not out of it yet,” he said. “We have two matches left and if we win them both, we’ll have a chance of qualifying. But we need to start playing our best cricket. We need to be more disciplined and more ruthless.“

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