ODI World Cup 2023: Pak Director of Cricket Mickey Arthur points out factors behind disappointing campaign

Pakistan's Director of Cricket Mickey Arthur said their bowling equilibrium was disbalanced with Naseem Shah's absence in the ODI World Cup 2023. Pakistan exited the quadrennial tournament with five wins in nine games and failed to qualify for the semis.

"It's not an excuse. Our bowling equilibrium was out of kilter because Naseem Shah provides the consistency, where it allows Shaheen Shah [Afridi] to attack, and then you can attack with your legspinner and you attack with Haris Rauf. So, the equilibrium was upset but that is no excuse at all because quite frankly we haven't played well enough," said Arthur after Pakistan's loss against England in their last league match on November 11 in Kolkata.

Also Read:England crush Pakistan by 93 runs at Eden as Willey says goodbye to international cricket

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Arthur also conceded that Pakistan have to become a team which posts 300+ totals on a regular basis like the teams which have made it to the semifinals of the ongoing ODI World Cup.

"Batting-wise, we have to become a 330-350 team," he said. "The teams that are doing that and doing that consistently are the teams that are in the semi-final. And I don't think we've done that consistently enough. We do that when Fakhar Zaman comes off and we can't just be relying on one-on-one player."

Talking about Babar, Arthur said he's learning from his captaincy and it's not crime to make mistakes as the team, as a whole, learns from them.

"I get behind Babar - he is very, very close to me," Arthur said. "He's a young guy that needs to be taken on the journey with. He needs to be shown the ropes. He's still learning all the time. We know he's a very, very fine batsman. He learns every day with his captaincy."

"He's growing and we have to allow him the time to grow," added Arthur. "And in order to do that, you make mistakes. It's not a crime to make mistakes as long as you learn from those mistakes and as a group, we've made a lot of mistakes this World Cup. But if this group grows and learns from it, we've got the core of a very, very good side."

Pakistan had started the tournament well with two wins on the trot but lost four matches consecutively in between which eventually proved fatal for their hopes to makes it to the last four.