Pakistan team director, Mickey Arthur wants the players to prioritise the team’s success rather than chasing personal milestones in modern-day cricket. Pakistan batters like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are criticised for playing selfish cricket to maintain their rankings in the ICC.
Many Cricket experts and fans are vocal about a few batters for choosing personal milestones over the team and causing the team to lose matches they should’ve won in many high-octane tournaments as batters slow down to achieve milestones to their names.
Speaking to a foreign sports journalist, the newly-appointed Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur believes every individual should put the team first and reckons that if they can build a mentality among the group to the put team first rather than looking for the individual records as it can be broken on any given day.
“It has to be team first before individuals. That is something I am very tough on. If we get all the players working for the team first, it is going to be so powerful. Those individual records will all be broken, but we need to have success as a team first,” Mickey Arthur said.
Earlier, Simon Doull was commentating during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023, in that league, he was very vocal about Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam’s slow strike rate to reach his century and many slammed the Pakistan primary batters have focused more on achieving goals, resulting in their team’s defeat in matches.
Men in Green batters usually stay at the top of the ICC ranking in batting in all formats of the game, but could not make an impact for the team in winning causes in the big events.
I Am Going To Challenge The Guys On Putting The Team First – Mickey Arthur
Mickey Arthur revealed that he would bring that change in the team to put the team first irrespective of the match situations and reckons that quick scores can make a difference in the team and added that even a few contributions and cameos in the lower order will be recognized.
“It is not something that jumps out of you. It is something I want to make sure that doesn’t happen. I am going to challenge the guys on putting the team first, on the brand of cricket, and on role clarity. 40 from 18 balls are far more valuable than 70 from 60 balls at the top, so we have to make sure that those little achievements down the order are recognized,” Mickey Arthur added.
Mickey Arthur’s next major assignment will be the Asia Cup 2023 and ODI World Cup 2023 later this year and Men in Green will look to do well under the coaching setup of experienced Arthur in sub-continent conditions.