A World Cup without Pakistan seems unthinkable but Arthur, speaking ahead of his one-day “debut” with the team, believes they must tackle their shortcomings in limited overs cricket head-on, starting with Thursday’s first of two ODIS away to Ireland in Malahide, near Dublin, which will act as a lead-in to a five-match series against England.
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After a mixed Test series which saw them draw 2-2 with England, Misbah-ul-Haq has handed over control of the Pakistan team to 50-over captain Azhar Ali, who leads a fairly inexperienced squad in the white-ball format.
They, however, will be highly confident ahead of this game after securing a series-leveling 10-wicket win in the fourth and final Test against England at the Oval last week.
Azhar, in a press conference, stated that Pakistan need to transfer the consistency of the Test team into their one-day side.
“It’s not I am cautioning anybody, but I think it will take some time to get our one-day side to exactly where we want them to be”.
Pakistan last played Ireland in a group match at the 2015 World Cup and managed to win by seven wickets, courtesy Sarfraz’s century. Finding another Imran was always going to be a hard task, but right now Arthur would love to have a genuine all-rounder in his squad.
“We have two very good young spinners in Imad Waseem and Mohammad Nawaz, then we have Yasir and Shoaib Malik so they can be handy”, said Azhar.
“We have (wicket-keeper) Sarfraz Ahmed and we can have him up the order, so we have to get that batting depth”.
Sami Aslam, Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar are the only specialist batsmen who keep their places from the Test squad along with bowlers Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah.
Ireland were dealt a huge blow on Tuesday with the news that former England pace bowler Boyd Rankin has not only been ruled out of the series but the rest of the season, including the ODIs in Benoni at the end of next month against South Africa and Australia. Hasan Ali, the 22-yearold seamer who showcased some stunning bowling capabilities when performing for the A team has been included in the squad, and we should wait to know whether he will find a place in the eleven. “England have those fearless players in Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and others”.
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Now ranked 9th in the world, Pakistan will be eager to win the series comfortably against the minnows to ensure an easy qualification. I certainly have no fears that we will lose 5-0.
