ICC World Cup 2019: If We Play the Perfect Game, We Can Beat Everybody - Mickey Arthur

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur believes they can beat any side in the ongoing ICC World Cup if they play the perfect game. Arthur said that the team hasn’t been at their absolute best in the tournament and they are yet to tick the right boxes. Pakistan has thus far played four matches in which they have won only one contest.

On the other hand, Pakistan has savoured two defeats and one match has ended in no result. Mickey Arthur believes his team has been good with the bat. However, they have been just okay with the ball and in the field. Hence, they need to pull up their socks in the two departments to come up with a complete performance.

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We are yet to tick the right boxes.

Mickey Arthur said in the pre-match press conference, “We haven’t put the perfect game together yet. We have been good with the bat, been okay with the ball and okay in the field. If we put the perfect game together, we can beat everybody, and we are confident of that.”

Meanwhile, India vs Pakistan at the World Cup stage is the mother of all matches. There is a huge rivalry between the two sides and both will like to get the result in their favour. Arthur stated that it is a perfect time for players to be remembered for a long time if they perform at their best.

“I don’t want to say it’s the biggest rivalry in sport, but I saw some stats which said the soccer World Cup final attracted 1.6 billion viewers and tomorrow is likely to get 1.5 billion. It doesn’t get bigger than that. I am telling our players in the dressing room, ‘you do something incredible, you will be remembered forever’,” Arthur told the media here on Saturday.

Mickey Arthur believes it is crucial to peak at the right time in the tournament like the World Cup. Pakistan will play their fifth match against India and it would be the right time to get the impetus under their belt.

“Through a World Cup, when you are playing nine games, you are not going to win every game. Getting that momentum towards the back-end of the tournament is really important and it’s time we start that.”

Pakistan had thwarted India by 180 runs in the Champions Trophy final. However, Mickey Arthur doesn’t want to count that now. However, the Pakistan coach is aware that his team can cause the havoc if they can get into India’s vulnerable middle order early.

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“Without wanting to harp too much, that was two years ago, but when you get into the Indian top-order, you can create a little bit of havoc. That’s something that we will try to work on.”

India and Pakistan will take on each other at Manchester on 16th June.