Arthur concerned about top players breaking down ahead of World Cup

SHARJAH: Pakistan’s head coach Mickey Arthur has said that top national players are fatigued after too much of travelling and it is important to provide them rest before the World Cup.

Talking to journalists in Sharjah after his PSL side Karachi Kings were defeated by Islamabad United, Arthur said that the bench strength may be tested during the series against Australia next month.

“It is a little bit of worry for me going forward that our players who have played for Pakistan have played for four and a half months,” he said when asked why his team’s star players looked off colour in the PSL.

“We are starting to see that Shaheen Shah Afridi pulled up. That’s a bit of a worry. Babar Azam has got a little bit of a niggle. Faheem Ashraf and Shadab Khan are both very tired. Shadab Khan's groin is starting to play up. These are the issues that are worrying for me and I’m talking as the head coach of Pakistan,” he said.

Arthur said that the fatigue has also affected the way these players play and it is very important for them to get time to refresh themselves before the World Cup.

“We have got a series against Australia and I’m not talking out of school here because Inzi and I have been talking very closely about testing our bench strength because we just need to find some time for our players that play all three formats to have a break, to go and refresh themselves, otherwise our key players in World Cup will be breaking down because we play too much cricket,” Arthur said.

“I think we have seen that all our three-format cricketers just started to feel the pinch of fatigue, that’s mental fatigue, physical fatigue and because of that their techniques are suffering a bit,” the coach added.

Mickey said that as far as PSL is concerned, he’s looking for one moment which can bring back the momentum for Kings in the PSL.