Sarfaraz first-choice wicketkeeper, he is our captain, says Arthur

LAHORE: “Sarfaraz Ahmed is our first-choice wicketkeeper, he is our captain,” Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur said.While addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the head coach said, “Asif Ali can prove to be dangerous, he has talent. We [are] developing him for the No. 6 batting slot, [we] need to give him confidence.”Arthur termed the 5-0 series whitewash against Australia as “disappointing” but there was a promising display of new talent including opener Abid Ali and pacer Mohammad Hasnain. “We are very clear regarding our World Cup squad and the preparations for the World Cup. The series against Australia was disappointing, but there were positive takeaways. We gave opportunity to new talent in order to test them. [There were] five centuries [from our batsmen], and we saw a young fast bowler [Hasnain]. “Abid Ali impressed us a lot. He played a very, very good innings. He is hungry [to score] and wants to play for Pakistan,” Arthur said about the 31-year old, who became the 15th batsman, and only the third from Pakistan, to score a hundred on his ODI debut when he made 112 against Australia at Dubai last week. Regarding the poor form of fast bowler Mohammad Amir, Arthur said he is a “big-match bowler. He’s a wonderfully skilled bowler. It’s just that he's not in form… It’s not necessarily his form, it’s the fact he hasn’t been taking wickets.” Arthur was also disappointed on Umar Akmal’s batting and said, “Umar Akmal trained hard and tried exceptionally hard to impress in all areas. It is disappointing that he didn’t get a big innings,” he lamented. “There will be no compromise on players’ fitness. We will conduct fitness tests around April 14. We will sit down with the selection committee in the next couple of days and make decisions about the World Cup squad,” he said. The head coach announced that around 18 players will travel to England for the World Cup. “We have individual player plans for everyone. We will implement the plan for each and every player,” he said, adding that the team camp will start on April 16 or 17.

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