We panicked, admits Arthur

DUBAI: Mickey Arthur doesn’t like mincing words especially not after his team performs like the way Sarfraz Ahmed and Co did against India in Wednesday’s Asia Cup clash — a game that utterly failed to justify its pre-match hype because of Pakistan’s spineless display in the field.

Unsurprisingly, Pakistan’s coach was direct in his criticism of the players, who failed to execute the plan with both the bat and ball.

Sights like Imamul Haq walking down the track and handing his wicket on a platter must have made him cringe.

The young opener, whose role is to stay on the crease and let the big-hitting Fakhar Zaman take the charge, tried to heave medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar but was only able to produce a thin edge that went straight into the safe hands of MS Dhoni.

Arthur agreed that the pressure of the preceding dot balls forced Imam to take the risk.

“I think the pressure told on Imam,” he said after Pakistan’s eight-wicket loss. “That’s not in his area.

“If he comes down, he’s going to be going extra cover, not midwicket, so yes I do think there was a little bit of pressure.”

Arthur knows that you need the big hits in limited-overs cricket but he made it clear that batsmen like Imam weren’t responsible for that job.

“We’ve got guys, X-factor guys whose role it is to do that (hit out),” he said.

“If Fakhar gets out playing that way, then it’s okay, because that’s what he needs to do. If Asif Ali gets out like that it’s okay because that’s his role. But the other four batsmen certainly need to take responsibility. And I just thought we were soft — 158 dot balls out of 258 played are not good enough.”

Arthur wasn’t just seething over Pakistan’s batting flop. He was also unimpressed with the way his bowlers defended Pakistan’s paltry total of 162.

“On a wicket like that you need to strike really if you’re going to defend it. We didn’t strike early enough,” he stressed.

“There was a bit of panic when they didn’t strike early. We panicked and went away from our plans. We said that our batters batted outside our roles and that wasn’t acceptable. With our bowling, we went outside our plans far too quickly. We wanted to bowl hard lengths, hit the top of off stump.

“It was tough to score then. We did that in the first six, and then (Usman) Shinwari decided to come around the wicket and bowl a bouncer with fine leg up. And from there it just tumbled. We’re going to sit down and talk about that. It’s not good enough.

“We went outside our plans. That’s not acceptable. I think there was a bit of panic when they didn’t strike early.”

Arthur also admitted that Mohammad Amir’s consistently below-par showing was also a big concern for him.

“I’d be lying if I sat here and said there wasn’t (any concern),” Arthur said. “I had a really good, long hard chat with him last night and I thought he came out and bowled really well. He hit the crease really hard. He ran in well. He’s been decelerating to the crease, but he didn’t do that today. Today he seemed more fluent, there was a little bit more pace there. And I was comfortable (with what he did), he bowled well tonight. There is pressure on him, of course there is.”

Less than 24 hours before that hammered Pakistan, the Indians survived a huge scare against minnows Hong Kong. Arthur believes pacer Jasprit Bumrah was the reason behind India’s quick transformation.

“You see what a difference Bumrah makes to their attack,” Arthur said. “I thought their spinners bowled better, their lengths were far better than they were last night (vs Hong Kong). So I think they were better for the hit out.”

Arthur was confident that Pakistan have the firepower to deal with India when the two teams clash again in Sunday’s Super Fours game in Dubai.

“... Whenever we go head-to-head with India, I am comfortable that we’ve got a dressing room of players who can stand up to it. I am comfortable we’ve got a dressing room of players who, on any given day, can win. So I still think it’s a 50-50. Lucky this game was inconsequential in the tournament,” he said.