Mickey Arthur, the coach of Pakistan, responded to an early query concerning his team’s third match at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, against India on Saturday, October 14, in jest, “Who do we play on the 14th?”
Some media members are already keeping half an eye on the crucial match that will take place in Ahmedabad in a little over a week, but Arthur wants to make sure that his Pakistani team has two victories under their belts first.
I personally can’t wait for it, I just think it’s going to be a wonderful game, he remarked.
So that we don’t go too far ahead of ourselves, I hope we’ll have two victories under our belts before we travel to Ahmedabad. I can’t wait for one particular date in my calendar, though.
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The two nations that qualified for the World Cup through the iCC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe will be Pakistan’s first opponents in the competition.
However, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, who Pakistan will play on Friday and Tuesday, respectively, both demonstrated during that qualifying competition that they have a wealth of skill and won’t be taken lightly by the world’s second-ranked ODI squad.
Regarding his team’s third game of the competition, Arthur admitted that Pakistan’s meeting against the World Cup hosts will be a significant event.
“Look, I’m not allowed to discuss politics or how other countries work. I can only speak about the mutual respect between the players on both teams since I have personally witnessed it, said Arthur.
“So far in India, we’ve received a fantastic reaction. We should also receive that around our games, I’m rather certain.
“The Indian population enjoys watching cricket, yet players like Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, and Shadab Khan are rarely seen on television. Therefore, I believe that will contribute to the attraction. Whatever occurs outside is out of my pay range.
