Pakistan’s former team director Mickey Arthur acknowledged that the ODI World Cup match against India in Ahmedabad was one of the most challenging moments during his tenure, navigating the team through a challenging environment.
Arthur was removed after Pakistan fell short of reaching the semi-finals in the prestigious event last year. Former all-rounder Mohammed Hafeez succeeded him in the role.
"It was extremely tough not having any Pakistan support. The one thing that really drives the Pakistan team is the incredible support they receive at grounds and hotels," Arthur told Wisden.
"Here we never had that, and that was quite tough in a World Cup, particularly for the players,” he added.
“As you can imagine it was a tough, hostile environment in Ahmedabad. But we were expecting this, and to their credit our players never moaned or complained once.
"They cracked on and tried their best – nevertheless it ultimately does play a role in motivation when you can’t see or hear that support base around you,” he added.
Pakistan's World Cup campaign was marked by high-level off-field turbulence, including news about dressing room discord and leaked WhatsApp conversations of then skipper Babar Azam.
However, Arthur stated that all those external commotions never truly affected the team.
“The outside noise with Pakistan is incredible, you just have to check your Twitter feed to see so many fires that are ignited out there, that have absolutely no truth attached to them,” he said.
“You end up – and I found this out the first time – you’re just constantly extinguishing those fires and chasing your tail. What we knew within our team was our game plan, and the defined roles that the players had, and we cracked on with it.
"There were unequivocally no massive disagreements with the players,” Arthur added.
Arthur, who led Pakistan to the 2017 Champions Trophy title, justified his choice to serve as the director for the Pakistan team while retaining his position with the English county Derbyshire.
The South African expressed astonishment at the comments made by former Pakistan players, labelling him as an online coach, deeming them remarkably uninformed.
“Anybody who knows me will also know that I will not commit 100 per cent if I can’t do it. With Pakistan I was never an ‘online coach’ as I put together the coaching staff, I was in constant contact with them every single day and knew exactly what was going on within the team.”
Arthur made it evident that he accepted the position with the Pakistan cricket team for the second time due to his strong rapport with the former PCB Chairman, Najam Sethi, who appointed him in April of the previous year.
“I trust Najam Sethi implicitly. We have a very good relationship, and I went in to try and help him because I owe him a lot. He’s the one who gave me my opportunity to return to international cricket after I had been sacked by Australia.
"He and I built up a good relationship. One of the reasons I returned was to specifically work with Najam again,” he detailed.
Arthur also recommended to the PCB the establishment of a system wherein players begin to place trust in the structure, have faith in the selection process, and play for the team.
“If it’s constant change and instability, players go into self-protection mode, and they end up playing for themselves, just thinking about the next tour.
"It’s frustrating to witness that because players aren’t given a proper chance, there’s no honest communication and they know things are always going to change,” he concluded.
- Mickey Arthur
