We had done a lot of homework on Herath: Mickey Arthur

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur rued the fact that the team could not go over the line in the first Test against Sri Lanka recently. In a last day thriller, it was the Sri Lankan side the prevailed. When Sri Lanka were bowled out for a paltry 138 in the second innings, the Pakistani team knew that they had a firm grip on the game.

However, a very dismal batting show saw them bundle out for a mere 114 in the innings, and thereby losing by 21 runs. Despite the downfall, coach Mickey Arthur defended his team citing that the inexperience in the batting lineup cost them the game. He mentioned that the wicket of Azhar Ali was the turning point in the match.

It was the wise old spinner Rangana Herath who scalped a six wicket haul to break through the Pakistani batting lineup. Arthur noted that he would have preferred seeing the Pakistani batsmen attack Herath early in the innings.

“This is a young batting line-up, obviously trying to find their way. Losing Azhar Ali early was a big blow. We discussed at lunch break that we needed one good partnership and wanted that up front, but didn’t get that. That put us under pressure. We were always going to be under pressure as the game goes on because we couldn’t expect the tail to get us over the line,” quoted Mickey Arthur as per the quotes in Cricbuzz.

“We did a lot of homework on him. We have played him a lot. But obviously on the last day he was always going to be a factor and you have got to give him more respect but I would probably have liked to see our batsmen take him on,” Arthur added.

Key was to not allow Herath to settle down

Speaking further on the same note, Mickey Arthur mentioned that the case was simple just like any other bowler. The batsmen should have unsettled him early on in the innings before he got on top of them.

“Once you take him on and that goes for any bowler, the game sort of settles down. For a period when Sarfraz (Ahmed) and Haris (Sohail) were going on, it was looking good. They had to remain positive and not getting tentative and looking for runs. If you allow Herath to settle down, he will do what he did today. So I would have liked him being attacked more,” remarked Arthur.