Pakistan can still win Asia Cup: Mickey Arthur

DUBAI: Pakistan cricket coach Mickey Arthur said on Tuesday, Pakistan still has a chance to win Asia Cup.

Speaking to Geo News, Arthur said, “Pakistan will win their last Super Four game against Bangladesh on Wednesday."

"They will win and compensate for their two losses against India by beating them in the final," he added.

Arthur who took charge of the Pakistan cricket team in 2016, took themto victory in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy last year in England.

The South Africanhowever, refuses to accept the fact that the team’s “switch was off’ during the Super Four game against India.

“Switch off is a harsh term,” Arthur said, adding, “We could not bring the Indian bowling under pressure with our batting.”

“We needed to take early wickets against India, however we lost the chance due to our fielding,” he added regretfully.

Further, he said, “If we had taken early wickets, the situation would have been different.”

“India outclassed us completely," he added.

Speaking about the Pakistan team, Arthur said, the Pakistan team is young with the most experiencedplayer being Shoaib Malik who has played 270 one-day internationals (ODI), while captain Sarfraz Ahmed has played 94 ODI's and Mohammad Amir having played 46.

The South African further said, ‘The team is going through a formation stage and a huge loss such as the one against India has certainly shaken theirconfidence."

"The loss of confidence is the reason behind our batting failure,” Arthur said.

Giving an example of Fakhar Zaman Arthur said, “When the Indian bowling starting increasing the pressure on him, he could not start aggressively which led to him only scoring 12 off 31 at the end of the power play.”

On the subject of bowling, Arthur said, it was concerning that the bowlers did not bowl according to plan.

“Our bowling was disappointing and did not have any patience," he added.

Pakistan next faces Bangladesh in an all-important game on Wednesday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.