"I'll Just Go Back To...": Pak Team Director Mickey Arthur On 'Consequences' Of World Cup Debacle

Babar Azam is a young man on a steep learning curve and someone, who needs to be hand held in this tumultuous journey called international cricket, feels Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur after his team failed to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals. Pakistan's No 1 batter Babar failed to score even a single century in the global showpiece and his captaincy came under the radar with team losing five of its nine league games, playing brand of cricket which former skipper Ramiz Raja termed "very 80s".

"We were a real tight knit unit. I get behind Babar. Babar is very, very close to me. He's a young guy that needs to be taken on the journey with. He needs to be shown the ropes," Arthur said after Pakistan ended their campaign with a 93-run defeat, their fifth in nine matches.

The criticism primarily centred around his lack of aggression and his decision-making abilities on the field as many former Pakistan cricketers suggested that his captaincy is weighing on him.

"He's still learning all the time. We know he's a very, very fine batsman. He learns every day with his captaincy. He's growing and we have to allow him the time to grow. And in order to do that, you (have to allow him to) make mistakes," Arthur said.

"It's not a crime to make mistakes as long as you learn from those mistakes and as a group, we've made a lot of mistakes this World Cup but if this group grows and learns from it, we've got the core of a very, very good side," he said.

He further stressed on the need to shut the outside noise and look forward with focus on creating a stable environment.

"There's always outside noise, whatever World Cup you are at there's outside noise. The key for us as leaders within that group is to make sure that we make the players