Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur recently admitted that his side four-run loss in the first Test against New Zealand as the worst defeat of his career.
Meanwhile, some excellent spin bowling by debutant Ajaz Patel rattled the hosts. The spinner bagged a five-wicket haul in the second essay to contain Pakistan under 176. The middle-order collapsed as they lost seven wickets for just 41 runs from 130 for 3.
Speaking on the same to AFP, Mickey Arthur said Pakistan were hurting from the defeat. However, he also admitted that they use this defeat to motivate themselves ahead of the next game.
“This is probably one of the worst defeats I have ever suffered in my career,” Arthur said. “Everyone from myself as head coach to the players and the staff are hurting but we will use this defeat as a motivation to give ourselves every opportunity to win the second game,” he added.
The win will take the Kiwis 1-0 up in the three-match Test series. Mickey Arthur rued batsmen poor shot selection as the reason behind the loss. However, he refused to accept his batsmen were complacent.
“There was no complacency, I can certainly say,” said Arthur. “The guys tried unbelievably hard and everyone was disappointed from the decision of shot selection under pressure. We need to learn from this and move forward very, very quickly,” he continued.
In conclusion, Arthur also defended batting coach Grant Flower, who has been in the role since 2014.