KARACHI (Monitoring Desk): Pakistan’s head coach Mickey Arthur has said that testing bench strength doesn’t mean that team is not worried about the results. Reacting to a statement by the captain Shoaib Malik that win-or-lose doesn’t matter much as the team is trying its bench strength in the ODI series against Australia, the head coach said that he hates losing.
“Every time we play for Pakistan, we are playing to win. You ask the guys in the dressing room, I am a very bad loser. We hate losing. We are representing a very proud cricket nation and we never want to lose. We are testing our bench strength, but we will never sacrifice our intensity and the will to win,” he told journalists in Abu Dhabi.
“We are calling this a tour of opportunity as we are trying to build a nucleus of players who are ready to come in when our frontline players are out-of-form or injured,” he added. The head coach added that bringing new players to series is aimed at strengthening Pakistan’s depth. He also expressed his satisfaction with the way youngsters have performed.
“The attitude to the guys that we have around here has been incredible. These guys will become very, very good cricketers. The other guys [who have been rested for this series] have been in a tough system for two years. These guys are only making their way like Mohammad Hasnain, Abid Ali, Saad Ali. Shan and Mohammad Rizwan have been in and out of our one-day side. Umar Akmal is back.” he said.
He said that Umar has improved a lot but added that the flamboyant middle-order batsman will have to undergo a fitness test in an attempt to secure his place in Pakistan’s World Cup squad.
“Discipline-wise definitely [he has been better now]. I can’t sit here and fault him. He has done very well since he has been in this environment. He knows what the standards of this environment are and what is required of him to secure a berth [in the side] going forward. I can’t fault his attitude and the way he has returned,” he said.
“He has to do work a bit more work on his fitness like the other new players that have come in. To be eligible to go to the World Cup, he needs to pass the fitness test that we have in Lahore on April 14,” he added.
