Pakistan’s revival in the ongoing tournament is nothing short of remarkable. After being beaten black and blue in the opening game by India, the Men in Green defeated South Africa, Sri Lanka and last but not the least hosts England to make it to their maiden Champions Trophy final.
Pakistan now has a chance to avenge for the heavy loss they suffered in their tournament opener and their head coach Mickey Arthur has insisted the players are ‘genuinely excited’ for the summit clash against widely touted favourites India.
Speaking on the eve of the tournament finale, the former South Africa and Australia coach said his team is focusing more on its own game plan this time around. He revealed the team had spent too much time analysing India ahead of the group match at Edgbaston but now his team is backing its own strength.
“We’ve concentrated more this time on our own games, and our own game plans as to where we want to go,” Arthur said on Saturday. “We dissected India a lot before the game at Edgbaston, and we’ve backtracked a little bit on that now and sort of solidified what we did really well, in terms of our batting, in terms of our fielding, and building on that. So tomorrow is going to be about us rather than the opposition, and we’ve made the focus us as a team.”
One of the prime reasons for Pakistan’s brilliant turnaround is the performance of their youngsters. Led by Hasan Ali, who is leading the wicket-taking list with 10 scalps to his name, Pakistan bowlers have managed to strangle the oppositions. 18-year old leg-spinner Shadab Khan has conceded just 4.66 runs per over in his three games while opener Fakhar Zaman has done his job by scoring 138 runs with the help of two fifties.
“I think the youngsters have been great. They’ve come in with no fear of failure,” said Arthur. “They’ve come in committed to the way we want to play our cricket. Every one of the youngsters that have come in have come in and made an impact straight away. That’s a real confirmer for us. They’ve been outstanding.”
India has earned the bragging rights of the Indo-Pak fixtures in the ICC tournaments. The Men in Blue hold 13-2 win-loss record against Pakistan in ICC tournaments. Moreover, India has won the last seven head-to-head matches in ICC events. And when asked about the reason behind it, Arthur feels that the exposure to the Indian Premier League has helped India players to soak up pressure well but at the same time said that the advent of the Pakistan Super League is helping his side to catch up.
“I think the difference is exposure to massive pressure situations. Let’s be under no illusion, India are a fantastic cricket team at the moment. They’re going in the right direction. They’re playing some brilliant cricket. But exposure to high-pressure situations is what India have had above Pakistan,” Arthur said.
“The PCB has changed that a little bit now with the PSL, which has been a very, very successful competition. I think we can see our style and method catching up with the rest of the world because we’re being exposed to it now. In the PSL we’re getting all our top players rubbing shoulders with some of the best players around the world, so that is rubbing off on our cricket now, where certainly there had been a void for a period of time,” he added.
Arthur concluded by saying that his players are under no illusion about the enormity of the task on Sunday but said they are ‘very very excited now’ unlike the opening game of the tournament.
“We finished our preparation today with a good chat just before we came down to the ground. The guys are under no illusion as to what the expectation is on them, but they’re genuinely excited,” said Arthur. “Before the Edgbaston game I thought they were really, really calm, but they’re very, very excited now, and there’s a hell of a good vibe in that dressing room. Let’s hope we can put our ‘A’ game on again tomorrow, because if we can – and I said it before the England game – if we put our ‘A’ game together and do the basics well, we can beat anybody.”