ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Head Coach Mickey Arthur has revealed the reasonsbehind losing the Test series against South Africa.
The Green Caps lost the first two Tests — in Centurion and Cape Town — tosurrender the three-match series against the Proteas.
Speaking about team’s reluctance to field five bowlers in the first twoTest matches of the series, Arthur said that injury to leg-spinningall-rounder Shadab Khan played a major role in that decision— while alsoindicating a general lack of trust in the batting abilities of fast-bowlingall-rounder Faheem Ashraf.
“I am a big fan of the five-bowler strategy,” Arthur said while speaking inan interview with ESPNcricinfo. “It gives us the added option of providingour frontline seamers with a rest while still maintaining control of theinnings. But to do that, we need a fully fit Shadab Khan, who is a genuineallrounder. With Faheem batting at seven, we feared the tail would be justa bit too long.”
The 50-year-old also shed light on the varying bowling strategies inEngland as compared to South Africa.
Read Top Stories
“In England, we did play Faheem Ashraf, but the situation there isdifferent. Over there, we could have the two spinners, Yasir Shah andShadab Khan, bowling long spells, which provided the rest our fast bowlersneeded,” he said.
“Here in South Africa, we can’t go into a game with two spinners, whichmakes Shadab, a spinner but also a genuine all-rounder, so valuable. Thebowlers will of course be fatigued if there’s no fifth option.”
Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah – who has only claimed one wicket in twoTests of the ongoing series against South Africa — was still backed by thePakistan head coach as he believes that if the matches went into day fourand five, Yasir would have spurred his magic with the ball.
