Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur believes lack of IPL matches a reason for team's poor T20 show

Mickey Arthur during a press conference 

Recently appointed Pakistan cricket team coach Mickey Arthur reckons that not playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) could be a reason behind Pakistan’s recent poor show in T20Is. The South African was appointed as the coach of the Pakistan nation team after Waqar Younis resigned from the post following Pakistan’s early exit from the T20 World cup in India.

The former coach of Australia was hired for the post after Peter Moores and Stuart Law turned down the offer due to various reasons. Along with the new coach the PCB has also appointed a new coaching staff as well. Earlier Arthur stated that he would be tough on discipline with the Pakistani team.

In a recent interview with PakPassion.net, the newly appointed coach praised domestic T20 league tournaments across the world as players gain a lot of experience in the shorter format of the game. He also added that the Pakistani players had a major disadvantage of not playing in the IPL.

The 48-year-old said, "You learn such a lot from franchise cricket tournaments and I think that could be playing a large role. Yes it is probably right that not playing in the IPL could be affecting the performances of the Pakistan team in the 20 over format."

In the inaugural edition of the IPL back in 2008, Pakistani cricketers were key members of all the eight teams but following the Mumbai terror attacks the same year, the Indian Government restricted their participation from the next edition onwards.

In 2010, several Pakistani players were up for auction but they were not picked by any of the IPL teams. While Pakistani players don’t play in the tournament anymore commentators, umpires and coaches feature regularly.  

Pakistan won the second edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in 2009 but could not qualify for the knockout stage in the sixth edition of the competition which was held in India a month back. Pakistan lost to India, New Zealand and Australia after winning their campaign opener against Bangladesh.

Pakistan also couldn’t qualify for the final of the Asia Cup T20 which was held in Bangladesh a few weeks prior to the world event. Back to back poor performances by the players, despite playing in the inaugural season of Pakistan Super League (PSL) earlier this year, is clearly something the new coach will have to fix.