Mickey Arthur expects the two players to deliver the most for Pakistan in the World Cup 2019

Pakistan have won the cricket World Cup only once so far while they came close to winning it for the second time in 1999 but were thrashed by Steve Waugh’s Australia in the final of the edition played in England. The Men in Green, however, registered their second-biggest success in the 50-over format two years ago when they humbled arch-rivals India in the final of the Champions Trophy in the same country. The side is now looking to rewrite history once again in England in the upcoming World Cup beginning May 30.

Pakistan playing in the quadrennial tournament will mostly be a young side with a few experienced warriors in Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez, both in their late 30s and play only the limited-over variants. The head coach Mickey Arthur is hoping for the two batting all-rounders to deliver in the showpiece event this year to help Pakistan go the distance.

Seniors to play a massive role in WC

“The senior players will play a massive role at the World Cup. In big tournaments, you need guys who have been there and done it. I hope Hafeez and Malik have exceptional World Cups because if they do, we’ll be getting enough runs to put pressure on the opposition,” Arthur was quoted as saying by Pak Passion. Malik and Hafeez have played 487 ODIs between them scoring over 13,800 runs and 20 hundreds and 79 fifties.

Pakistan will open their WC campaign by taking on two-time champions Windies in Bristol on May 31. In the 1992 edition that the side had won under the captaincy of Imran Khan, too, Pakistan had kicked off their campaign against the Caribbeans and were thrashed by 10 wickets.

The South African also said that Pakistan’s bowling attack has to get back to where it was during the Champions Trophy 2017. “I’m still of the opinion that our bowling attack won us the Champions Trophy and we have to get that up to the mark again. Our batters will complement the bowling attack,” he said.

[interaction id=”5c5e67811179bb3d2c18142b”]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from New Zealand vs India series, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.