Mickey Arthur lauds Pakistan’s squad strength; Dutch target semi-final spot
Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam goes into the tournament as the top-ranked ODI batter in the world, and will be joined in the middle order by Mohammad Rizwan, who is currently second in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Batting Rankings.
It Takes One Day: Episode 2: Pakistan and Netherlands get their ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 campaigns underway in Hyderabad on Friday.
But Arthur says there is far more to Pakistan’s batting line-up than just those two stars.
“We've got some very, very fine players. Yes, Rizwan and Babar are exceptional players, but let's not forget that we've got Imam ul-Haq, I think, in the top five ODI players at the moment.
“Fakhar Zaman, we know is quality, we know that. I think you guys will love watching Saud Shakeel bat. I think he's quality. And then Abdullah Shafiq and Salman Ali Agha are very, very good players.
“It would be nice if Babar and Rizwan kept on scoring as they are scoring at the minute, it takes a bit of pressure off everybody else. But we have some very, very fine players outside of those two as well.”
Pakistan hopes are high of claiming a second World Cup trophy while playing in India at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023
And Pakistan’s coach has also backed spin-bowling all-rounder Shadab Khan to rediscover his mojo after a relatively sluggish run of form of late.
“I wholeheartedly back Shadab's ability. He's a wonderful cricketer. You look at his package of bowling, batting, fielding, he's exceptional," Arthur added.
“If we look at his bowling in isolation, he's just short of a little confidence. He hasn't lost his ability to turn the ball. His googly is still very, very good. He's one performance away from getting that confidence back and making sure that he has a real big influence on this World Cup.”
First up for Pakistan it is the lowest-ranked team at the tournament, with Netherlands reaching the World Cup thanks to their superb showing in the ICC World Cup Qualifier earlier this year.
However, Dutch star Bas de Leede is not content with just being present at the World Cup, and has instead revealed that his team have a big target for the tournament.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was in scintillating touch as he smashed an unbeaten 90 from just 59 deliveries in his side's warm-up clash with Australia
“We want to make the semi-finals. If we want to get there then we've got to win four or five games. So, we'll have to take down one of the big teams," de Leede said.
“But that's our main target; the semi-finals. And if we get there and we play our best cricket – amazing. But if we play our best cricket and we don't get there, I reckon we can still be proud of ourselves.”