In Hyderabad, India, Pakistan’s coach, Mickey Arthur, acknowledges that hehas an in-depth understanding of Sri Lanka’s strengths and weaknesses dueto his two-year tenure as their coach. As former champions Pakistan prepareto face Sri Lanka at the World Cup on Tuesday, Arthur is well-prepared tostrategize against his former team, having coached them from December 2019to November 2021.
He expressed, “Yes, I am familiar with their strengths and weaknesses, andwe have plans in place for all of them. They are a formidable side, so wemust perform at our best to defeat them.”
Pakistan secured an 81-run victory over the Netherlands in a tense match inHyderabad on Friday, marking the start of their World Cup campaign. Despitea shaky start with a top-order collapse at 38-3, they managed to reach acompetitive total of 286, thanks to half-centuries from Saud Shakeel andMohammad Rizwan.
Subsequently, they dismissed the Netherlands for 205 runs in 41 overs.Arthur shared his satisfaction with the first win, even though it wasn’t aflawless performance, stating, “I enjoyed the first win, although it wasn’ta stellar performance. Nonetheless, we did enough to secure the victory,and our players stepped up when it mattered.”
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Looking ahead to Tuesday’s match, Pakistan is likely to retain the samelineup, providing another opportunity to out-of-form opener Fakhar Zaman,who only scored 12 runs against the Netherlands.
Arthur expressed confidence in Zaman’s abilities, saying, “I am notconcerned about his form; he is a talented player who is just one inningsaway from a significant score.” Zaman remains the only Pakistani batsman tohave achieved a double century in ODI cricket.