ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Mickey Arthur aims higher with Pakistan

What’s the story?

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur believes that having arrived in England with no expectations his team effectively have nothing to lose. However, they are definitely in it to win the semi-final and go forward into the final.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Arthur revealed that he did not want his team to feel that they had done enough by making it to the semi-finals and hoped that the boys will put their best foot forward on Wednesday when they play England.

He said, "We've got nothing to lose, yes, but we've always said we're in it to win it. When we chatted last night at the end of the game, the last thing I want is for us to go away now thinking that we got to a semi-final, we're okay, we've achieved, because that would be a cop-out in my mind.

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"We certainly want to come out and put our best game forward and win, and we want to go to London. We've always said that. That's been our mantra right from the start of this competition. We didn't get to London. We were in Birmingham, and we've come to Cardiff. We want to end up in London."

The context

After a humiliating loss to arch-rivals India in the first game of the tournament, Pakistan bounced back strongly to defeat South Africa and Sri Lanka in their remaining two group fixtures. While the win against the Proteas was a convincing one, they just about managed to eke out a narrow win against Sri Lanka. In the process, they finished second in Group B behind India and qualified for the semi-finals.

The heart of the matter

Arthur tried to explain what it is like to be the coach of Pakistan – a team which has the reputation of being consistently inconsistent. He said that on an emotional level it is a tough ride at times. However, the team is trying to get better and become more consistent every day.

He also conceded that as a head coach, one wants structure in the team and not the unpredictability that Pakistan is so often associated with. He also admitted that the win against Sri Lanka was ‘ugly’ and there was no way to ‘sugar-coat the fact’ by saying that the team had clicked.

Nevertheless, he was proud of the boys for the way they fought back after the shambolic loss to India and felt that his team will be fine against the tournament favourites on Wednesday.

What’s next?

Pakistan take on England in Cardiff later today in the first semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy. The winner of the match will play against the winner of the second semi-final at the Oval on Sunday.

Author’s take

The way Pakistan came back into the fold of things after being written off following the defeat to India is definitely praiseworthy. However, England pose a far greater challenge than South Africa or Sri Lanka. As Arthur mentioned, they have to play their best match in order to get a positive result.