Mickey Arthur: “I am not worried about his form, he is a good player”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur has made it clear that he is not panicking about opening batsman Fakhar Zaman’s form.
Zaman has been highly inconsistent over the past few months, which led to talk that his time in the team was coming to an end.
The speculation surged further when the 33-year-old was dropped after Pakistan’s opening match against the Netherlands in the ongoing 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Zaman missed the next five matches before being brought back into the playing XI as a replacement for Imam-ul-Haq, who also hasn’t done particularly well at the top of the order lately.
Having been given a second chance, the Mardan native grabbed it with both hands and smashed 81 and 126 not out against Bangladesh and New Zealand respectively.
However, he was unable to maintain his momentum as he was dismissed for one run against England.
With his form seemingly starting to show signs of recovery, Arthur reiterated that there is nothing to be concerned about when it comes to Zaman.
“I am not worried about his form, he is a good player,” he told AFP as quoted by Cricwick.
Pakistan began their World Cup campaign with back-to-back wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before falling to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
They subsequently bounced back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, which kept them in the race to qualify for the semi-finals.
However, they ended up missing out on a last four spot and also suffered a 93-run loss to England in Kolkata.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali
[TS_Poll id=”65″]