Daryl Mitchell & Mickey Arthur speak ahead of New Zealand vs Pakistan

Daryl Mitchell & Mickey Arthur speak ahead of New Zealand vs Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

[Reporter:]

It's been a fantastic World Cup for you as far as this year is concerned. As far as next match is concerned, what are your priorities? Because it's a do or die situation for Pakistan. And they are very much confident, their director was saying that we look after all the aspects where we can do much better in the next match. So, what is your strategy for the next match to go ahead?

[Daryl Mitchell:]

Look, for us, every game in this tournament is vitally important. They're all worth two points. And for us, again, it's just showing up and playing the black-cap style of cricket that we want to play. And I'm sure if we can control those little things and do them for long periods of time, then we'll go a long way to getting some outcomes which we want, which will hopefully mean we're in the mix coming into the tournament. But yeah, we won't make it bigger than what it is. We'll just keep doing what Kiwis do and we'll see what happens.

[Reporter:]

You have played a lot of cricket against Pakistan in recent times. How do you see Pakistan as opponents, especially in a situation where their backs are towards the wall?

[Daryl Mitchell:]

Look, they're a world-class team and they have been for a long time. Yes, we've played a lot of cricket against them, which is awesome for us. We loved touring Pakistan a few months ago and to be able to take them on here now in the World Cup's cool.

So, look, for us as Kiwis, we love playing the best in the world. That's why you play international cricket and we're looking forward to it.

[Reporter:]

We had two games here in Bangalore. One was a run fest and one was - the bowlers came into it in a big way. So having a look at the pitch there, what do you expect and, you know, are you looking forward to hitting a lot of sixes because you've been really great at that.

[Daryl Mitchell:]

We just got to the ground now, so I haven't had a chance to look at the wicket yet, but we've obviously got training after this, so yeah, we know what this ground's like, we know the dimensions and what the wicket can be like, but we also know within tournament cricket, pitches can vary from time to time, depending on times of preparation and things like that between games. So, for us, it's just adapting as quick as we can and making sure we communicate that with each other. And hopefully we do it quicker than the opposition and it gives us a good chance.

[Reporter:]

Looking at tomorrow's game, how crucial is it in terms of qualification for the semis?

Do you think that everyone in the team has got enough game time and also with that being a concern, do you think we can find the likes of (Kyle) Jamieson getting a nod tomorrow?

[Daryl Mitchell:]

Look, I think we back everyone within our squad to do a job. That's one thing we pride ourselves on and I guess you can see with the schedule that we've had over the last 12-24 months a lot of guys have had opportunities. So, I know that we back everyone if they get the chance to do a job for the team with that silver fan on their chest and I know as a group we're really excited

[Reporter:]

Do you think for a World Cup that like that lasts 40 plus days. so, a score of 15 players is enough for the teams or do you think there should be more players in the squad?

[Daryl Mitchell:]

Look, for me that's above my pay grade. I'm just happy to be here and to be part of this World Cup and that's for the powers above to decide. Obviously, the conditions here are pretty warm compared to what we're used to as Kiwis back home. It's a bit colder at home at the moment. But yeah, look, that's not for me to say.

[Reporter:]

Some of your key players are not fit yet. Jamieson is also cold and what about the Kane (Williamson)? Is he available for tomorrow's match and how it's affect your team for the match against Pakistan?

[Daryl Mitchell:]

Look, we've obviously got training this afternoon and a number of guys have got to get through fitness tests and pass that and we probably won't know till tonight and tomorrow morning how they pull up from that, but yeah for us, we back everyone within our squad to have success and do a job for the team.

We’re all pretty clear on the roles that we're going to play if given the opportunities and yeah, we'll just go out there get stuck in as Kiwis do and hope we come around the right side.

[Reporter:]

You had four wins out of four, and then three successive losses, and you have missing key players because of injuries and stuff. So how hard is it to gain the momentum in this crucial part of the tournament.

[Daryl Mitchell:]

One thing we do as Kiwis is we stay pretty grounded. We stay where our feet are, and injuries are things that we can't control. All I know is that the 11 guys that will take the field tomorrow will be very proud to represent our country and get stuck in a World Cup. And yeah, we won't, as I said earlier, we won't make it bigger than what it is. It's another two points for this tournament, which is important for us in the big scheme of things, but we'll just keep playing like Black Caps and Kiwis do, and I'm sure we'll come a long way to winning the game.

[Reporter:]

Bangalore is known for its traffic. Have you guys had a taste of that while getting to the games? And we have a rain prediction coming around for the game as well. One eye on the skies ahead of tomorrow?

[Daryl Mitchell:]

Yeah, first on the traffic, my family arrived, my two little girls and my wife arrived last night and they got stuck in the traffic coming to the hotel, so we know about that. But look, yeah, again, weather is something you can't control. I guess you don't really expect it to rain in India, so we'll just show up being ready to go to get stuck in and yeah, what will be will be.

[Reporter:]

In response to a couple of questions you mentioned the blackcaps way of playing and play the way Kiwis do, how exactly would you define that?

[Daryl Mitchell:]

That's probably for you guys to work out and decide yourselves. Look, we're a small country, down the bottom of the earth, and for us it's fighting for every ball, chasing every ball to the boundary, and doing the little things that we can control. The big stuff will look after itself if we’re clear on our roles, very detailed with how we go about our business, and you can work out our blueprint and our plan from that.

But yeah, we're just very proud to represent our country and get stuck in the World Cup and you'll see that by the passion and the way the guys throw themselves around out in the field.

[Reporter:]

There is a cap on a 15-member squad. Now you are suffering so many injuries out there. So, what do you feel? Because there's a lot of noise coming around that more team members should be declared.

[Daryl Mitchell:]

Yeah, look, for us, again, that's not my decision to make. That's for the bosses above to make those decisions. For us, we're stoked to be playing in the World Cup and to be representing our country. And whether the next one has more players, less players, more games, less games, that's not for me to decide. But us as players are really proud to represent our country and I know that everyone within the squad is looking forward to tomorrow.

[Reporter:]

How challenging would it be for your side to bounce back from a massive defeat in the previous game?

[Daryl Mitchell:]

Yeah, again you play to win games of cricket, and it's nice to win games. But for us, it's making sure we do what we do best. And we're not outcome focused. We never will be. We'll control the things that we can control. And that stuff will take care of itself if we keep doing our jobs. That's what we do as Black Caps and as Kiwis and it seems to have worked for a number of years now and we'll just keep doing what we do and we'll see what happens.

[Reporter:]

What is the latest update on Shadab (Khan)?

[Mickey Arthur:]

The latest update is Shadab went through a preliminary test today, which you've got to do as per medical protocol. He came through that OK, but we're in no position yet to make a decision on him. Concussion is a really important injury, and we've got to be 100% sure before we make a decision. No decision has been made on him at the minute.

[Reporter:]

More general question about the whole tournament. Do you feel Pakistan has been at a disadvantage in this World Cup because none of the Pakistan players play in the IPL? Whereas, players from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, they're all very familiar with the grounds and conditions and there are so many different grounds and conditions. What do you think?

[Mickey Arthur:]

That's a good question, but I just see the headline now. No excuse, but it has been. And the interesting thing has been that every ground we've been to has been a new venue for our players, which is exciting. The players have really embraced that and they've enjoyed that fact because they've watched IPL on TV and they've seen test matches at iconic grounds like Eden Gardens, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai. So, for them to play it, it's been really exciting for them.

Of course, it is the first time they're playing there, so it has taken a little bit to get used to the conditions.

[Reporter:]

Both matches are must-win matches for Pakistan. Any specific instructions for boys and any special plan to win these both matches?

[Mickey Arthur:]

Every game we go into, we want to win. And I'll be brutally honest, I don't think we've played to our full potential this tournament yet. I thought the Bangladesh game is the first game where we actually put a complete game together. We batted beautifully, bowled beautifully, and fielded beautifully, which in all the other games, we've done one or two disciplines OK, but our other disciplines let us down. So, I'd like to say we're peaking, but the preparation of the guys and the attitude of the guys' will to get better every day, that has been exceptional. So, I can't fault anybody in terms of that. But we found our best game against Bangladesh and I just hope that's not too late for us.

[Reporter:]

Being on the road continuously, how much does that affect the team? Because like we said, they're used to it in the IPL, but this again is a novelty for the Pakistan team. How much has that been a factor?

[Mickey Arthur:]

As a Pakistan team, we play a hell of a lot of cricket. So being on the road is nothing new for these guys. What has been tough is the fact that we've been under a massive amount of security. So, I've sort of taken it back. And to be fair, I found it difficult. It's almost like we've been back in the COVID times, where you were almost secluded to your floor and your team room. So much so that their breakfast is in a separate room to everybody else. So, it's almost, that's been the tough aspect.

The aspect about being on the road is, our boys are used to it. But when they're on the road, they've still been able to get out and go and have meals, etc., at different places, and get out on their own accord where we haven't been able to do this time. And that's been tough. That has been quite stifling.

It certainly does. It definitely does. And I've seen it with some players where it has been, you wake up again and it's like Groundhog Day. It's exactly the same. You have breakfast and if it's a non-training day, you're back to your room. We've tried to have sort of little fun team events and whatever within our team room. But you know, there's only so much you can recreate. I think the guys have been out three times - we've managed to do that with security, get them out to a different restaurant or whatever, just to give them a little bit of a taste of the outside world.

[Reporter:]

There is some noise from outside the field. They have to win big, they have to hope that the results go their way, so it's an adverse situation for the side so how much motivation do you think these players draw from such situations because this is a classic Pakistan World Cup campaign?

[Mickey Arthur:]

Yeah, everybody tells me it's the classic World Cup campaign. And I hate that, because I'd rather, that we were cruising now and things had been really good, it would certainly be a lot less stressful. But again, we got ourselves into a position before the Bangladesh game where it was kind of out of our hands and it's come back in a funny way into our hands again because albeit we've got to win and win big in both our games, it's still in our control, which it wasn't before the Bangladesh game. We had obviously a really good result there. And then South Africa did us a little bit of a favour as well. So, it's kind of pushed it back into our hands, albeit a long shot.

But look, we actually spoke about it as a group yesterday in our one-on-one skill meetings. The one thing that amazes me, and it's amazed me so much with the Pakistan players, is generally how calm they are. You know, it's like, I'm a cat on a hot tin roof, the players are just really calm. They kind of take it in their stride. And that's the feeling I got before the Bangladesh game. And it's certainly the feeling I'm getting right now. So, yeah, we're in a decent place.

[Reporter:]

The last game we played against Australia was pretty high-scoring encounter. But we saw the New Zealand - Sri Lanka game was pretty low scoring encounter. So, comes with a bowling unit are they under sort of pressure to find out a kind of solution? What would be your approach going on this track again? Are you going to like control runs or directly go for wickets? What's the solution for this?

[Mickey Arthur:]

Yeah, we've looked through all the stats on the ground for day games. We've factored that into our equation. We've looked at- is it spin favourable, is it pace bowler favourable, what's the mean score. So, we've done a hell of a lot of research into this venue for day games because a lot of the research you get is at night. We've done it for day games, and we've tried to mould a game plan around that.

Now, we obviously have a couple of concerns still in terms of personnel within the team before we can make a final decision. But we've taken all those factors into account and we're trying to put what we think is our best team for these conditions tomorrow.

[Reporter:]

Sitting outside, we have been calculating, okay, this margin, this margin, that margin can Pakistan take, surpass. So do you have this thing in your mind that if we can win by around 85 runs, it will take us above New Zealand in net run rate. So, do you, I mean, this thing is in your mind that we have to not only to win, but also to pass, surpass New Zealand on net run rate?

[Mickey Arthur:]

Yeah, look, of course it is. It is based on and during the Calcutta chase, I had every scenario in my pocket as to if we won in 25 overs, if we won in 26 overs, 27 overs. So, we kind of knew as to how we were going to eat into the net run rate of particularly New Zealand. What I didn't factor into was South Africa doing us a favour the next night. So, we do have all those scenarios. Of course, we have those scenarios. I think the first thing for us, though, is we've got to respect our position. New Zealand are a very, very good team. I think they're very well coached. I think they're very well led. I think they're a very experienced cricket team. We've got to respect it. And once we get ourselves in a position, only then can we start talking about those net run rates. Now, I'll have all the information, but I won't necessarily give it to the players until we feel the time is right to put the foot down and potentially try and close that net run rate because we've still got to win the game as well.

[Reporter:]

We've seen you discussing things with Babar and Grant at the end of the practice session. Did we expect any change in tomorrow's game? Maybe Hassan Ali comes in for Haris Rauf. As we saw that the last game, you changed Fakhar Zaman and played very brilliantly. So, we expect any change?

[Mickey Arthur:]

If we make change - and just on Haris Rauf does a real role for us. You know, he's kind of our striker. So no, we wouldn't look to change Haris Rauf because he's got a specific role for us within the team. But there is a potential for a game plan change, yes. And you know, Fakhar Zaman was brought in once he cleared his injury, we have to remember that. We would have loved to have Fakhar Zaman available for the whole competition. But once he cleared his injury, we got him right and he gave us some good reward.

[Reporter:]

A word on the contribution Iftikhar (Ahmed) has made with the ball at this World Cup, especially bowling so much in the first 10 overs.

[Mickey Arthur:]

Yeah, He's been good. Iftikhar's an underrated off spinner. At the start of the tournament, Babar was bowling Ifti (Iftikhar) a couple of overs. And Ifti always used to come off going, coach, coach, I'm a 10-over bowler. And I love that. I love that kind of attitude from Ifti. And the longer the tournament's gone on, the more he's bowled and done a really good job for us.

So, I'm really happy with his contribution.

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