Arthur praises his bowlers’ ability to take wickets
london — Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur is confident his side’s groupstage ‘aberration’ against titleholders India will have no bearing when they face their arch-rivals again in Sunday’s Champions Trophy final at the Oval.
When the Asian giants met in their tournament opener at Edgbaston on June 4, India thrashed Pakistan by 124 runs.
Arthur, a former coach of both his native South Africa and Australia, labelled Pakistan’s performance that day as ‘shambolic’.
“The India game was an aberration,” Arthur told reporters at the Oval on Saturday.
“What we’ve produced after that doesn’t come as any surprise, because that’s how we trained, and that’s what we worked at.”
Amir’s return bolsters an already impressive Pakistan pace attack featuring Hasan Ali, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.
And Arthur believes that if Pakistan can strike with the new ball, they will have the chance to test an India middle order who have hardly been required to bat during this Champions Trophy, with the likes of openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, as well as captain and star No 3 Virat Kohli piling on the runs.
“Our strength has been the fact that we’ve been able to take wickets, and we’ve been able to take wickets consistently.” — AFP
through the middle periods,” explained Arthur.
“If we can get amongst them with the new ball, we can expose the middle order that hasn’t batted much in this competition — so that’s pretty much our aim and focus.”
Pakistan’s run to the final has once again led to many comments about their notorious “unpredictability”.
But Arthur, who took charge