Before touching down in England, one of the observations coach Mickey Arthur made about his Pakistan team was that they were playing limited overs cricket belonging to a different era. The South African, speaking on the eve of the clash against India, said he's happy with the improvements Pakistan have been making.
“It's changing. Certainly in terms of awareness and in terms of the brand of cricket. I’m comfortable where we're at. I thought the last two ODIs in the West Indies we were very good. And it's been well-documented. But in the first ODI, I thought we could have got another 20 runs in that one,” said Arthur.
“Saying that, we still got 306. And I think that’s testimony to the change that the guys have made in terms of their mindset. It was very interesting to read the other day –– I go through the stats quite regularly –– that in the last year we've scored the third-most amount of 300s. England are way, way ahead, but Pakistan is number three on that list. And I think that's testimony to the brand of cricket that we have starting to play.”
Pakistan are fielding an inexperienced side for the Champions Trophy but captain Sarfraz Ahmed said it works in their favour and they would be looking to upset India. “We are just have about three guys who have played Champions Trophy and the experience of playing against India. But we have told the boys not to take too much pressure and play the way they want to. I’ve just asked the boys to go out and express themselves. We want to play hard cricket and beat India. You will see a new Pakistan team. We will think out of the box. It will be a different Pakistan team.”
