Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has called his experience of coaching the Asian team fantastic and full of emotions, colour and intensity.

Arthur was appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after former coach and bowling legend Waqar Younis resigned from his post after some dismal performances in the two limited-over formats.

“If I had to encapsulate it in one word, then it’s been fantastic,” said Arthur as quoted by The Cricket Monthly. “I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Yes, it has been challenging. But I’ve thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. If I had finished my career without coaching a subcontinent side, it would’ve been a glaring miss on my CV.

He continued by explaining the roller coaster ride his time with Pakistan team has been and what he plans to achieve with the team in the future. “The passion, the intensity, the focus, the colour, the emotion — we’ve experienced that all this year, and what I’m trying to do is bring some stability, to bring standards, to bring high performance, to bring structure. And trying to just keep pushing our players to be the best they can possibly be. For me, that’s the energy of the job.”

‘I’ve got lots to offer Pakistan’

Before working with Pakistan, Arthur had South Africa and Australia on his resume and he hopes to bring the experience of coaching both teams to help Pakistan become a better side.

“I feel I’ve come in [to coach Pakistan as] a far more experienced coach,” he said. “I feel like I’ve got so much to offer, to this structure, this country, this job. Because if I can bring the best of South Africa and the best of Australia and somehow fit it into this Pakistan side, the world’s our oyster.”

On creating a legacy

Under Arthur, Pakistan won the Champions Trophy for the first time but for the South African, player and structural development takes precedence.

“I would like my legacy to be structure, or high performance, or standards, because ultimately you get those results from there,” he said. “More than wins and losses, to me player development and this excellent structure are the most important things. And that’s how I’d like to be remembered. Wins and losses come and go. But ultimately you’ll be remembered for the structure you brought in and the players that grew under you.”

‘Amir has been outstanding’

Mohammad Amir was trying to fathom his responsibilities in the teams after a comeback when Arthur joined the team and he believes the left-arm pacer has come a long way during his tenure.

“Amir has been outstanding,” explained Arthur. “I must admit, seeing him in England and seeing him now, he’s a totally different character. In England he was very reserved, whereas now he is very much part of the team. He was finding himself as well. I’m incredibly fond of Mohammad Amir and I admire the way he’s gone about it so much. He’s just such an incredible talent with the ball.”

Arthur heaped more praise on the 25-year-old pacer by calling him a player who craves a big occasion and then makes sure he shines in that moment.

“What I do know about Amir is that he is a big-match player,” said Arthur. “The bigger the occasion, the more he rises to it. That is not prevalent in every player. A lot of cricketers in those big, big moments disappear. Amir doesn’t. He wants those big moments. He craves those big moments. And generally, he’s pretty successful in them.”

The kit has Pakistan written on it in golden color with a black outline while on the back the same pattern is being followed for the name and number of the cricketers.

Buy the Official World Cup 2015 Pakistan Cricket Team Shirt
Buy Pakistan Cricket Team World Cup 2015 Shirt

When FIFA World Cup’s Chinese supplier Adidas failed to keep up with the demand of soccer balls in Rio de Janeiro, a Sialkot ball manufacturing company in Pakistan then stepped in and got the contract.

The 159th-ranked football nation and a country known as a cricketing nation – Pakistan will be exporting the soccer balls for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

It was when he felt the roar of the crowd at the 2006 World Cup in Germany that Pakistani factory owner Khawaja Akhtar first dreamt up a goal of his own: to manufacture the ball for the biggest soccer tournament on the planet.

Last year he finally got his chance – but only 33 days to make it happen.

Factory owner Khwaja Akhtar, who has made balls for the German Bundesliga, French league and the Champions League, is excited with the challenge of being a part of World Cup soccer history.

“It was when I felt the roar of the crowd at the 2006 World Cup that I dreamt of a goal of my own: to manufacture the ball for the biggest football tournament on the planet,” Akhtar said.

“The people were chanting all around me. I just thought, this is the real thing. I was part of the crowd. I never had that kind of feeling before,” added Akhtar.

Sialkot, a town in eastern Pakistan, was once the unassailable soccer ball production capital of the world — exporting about 30 million balls a year, an estimated 40 percent of global production — but India and China have recently caught up.

In December 2013, Brazil unveiled the latest soccer ball for the 2014 edition — the Brazuca — on the official FIFA World Cup website.

The Brazuca features a striking new design and new panel system. Six identical interlocking panels make up the ball’s synthetic surface, thermally bonded to keep out moisture.

The month-long tournament, which kickstarts on June 12, has 32 of the worlds best sides locking horns in the most watched event in sports.

NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League cricket bandwagon rolls into action today with organisers hoping India’s World Cup victory last weekend will help the competition regain some of its lost sparkle.

This year’s edition — spread over 51 days and comprising 74 matches across 13 venues — will be the first after the ousting of its outspoken founder Lalit Modi, who was forced out last year under a cloud of corruption allegations.

The tournament’s future had looked in doubt amid claims of corruption, money-laundering and tax evasion, as well as secret deals to hide teams’ real owners and even links to India’s criminal underworld.

But a massive PR exercise by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has ensured the IPL has kept its date with fans, as well as sponsors and advertisers hungry for their share of the huge commercial pie.

IPL chief executive Sundar Raman dismissed fears that cricket fans in India, still recovering from celebrations after Saturday’s victory over Sri Lanka in the World Cup final, could suffer sporting overload.

“The success of the Indian team in the World Cup has made it (IPL) more interesting,” Raman told AFP, saying the tournament would “carry on from where the World Cup ended”.

“Fans are already into cricket and celebrating India’s victory. We are confident of building on the success of the last edition.”

This year’s IPL, the fourth time it has been held, will have two new teams in Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Pune Warriors, taking the total number of franchises to 10.

The opening game will feature Chennai Super Kings, led by victorious Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and the Kolkata Knight Riders, owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

The IPL revolutionised the sport when it burst onto the scene in 2008 with a high-octane blend of international star players, scantily-clad cheerleaders and Bollywood glamour.

Using the short Twenty20 form of the game, IPL matches are usually three-hour events packed with music, delirious crowds and countless television advertisements.

Everything from the time-out to the drinks break is sponsored by companies, earning Indian cricket authorities millions in revenue.

The fourth edition is likely to see IPL bosses reduce the decadent post-match parties, which were blamed by some for India’s failure in the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean last year.

The much-discussed cheerleader jobs — all taken by Western women in previous editions — might be given to locals who will don traditional Indian outfits in place of barely-there miniskirts, local media reports say.

MOHALI: Vanquished captain Shahid Afridi expects a mature reaction from fans in Pakistan when their team return after going down to India in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

“In my opinion we have played better than 2003 and 2007 when our teams were much better. Nobody was expecting anything from this team. I am proud of this team,” Afridi told reporters.

The 1992 champions have been unable to play international matches at home since the 2009 armed attack on the Sri Lanka cricketers in Lahore and the recent spot-fixing scandal has raised serious doubts about their players’ integrity.

The scandal robbed them of the services of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and, understandably, few were prepared to bet on Pakistan winning the showpiece event for a second time.

“I think people have realised that we have put in our full effort. We have won six out of eight matches which is a big achievement,” Afridi said.

“We have confidence (in our fans). Our country has backed us so much. People who love you so much can criticise you as well. It’s not a big deal.” Afridi’s counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni recalled the fans’ ire when they stoned the cricketers’ houses after India’s first-round exit in the 2007 World Cup.

Dhoni said those were the moments when support really mattered. “We are here to entertain. We have always given our best whether it was the 2007 World Cup or the 2011,” he said. “We don’t really like losing and always give our best. We always need the support, especially when we are not doing well.

“We know when we are doing well, the whole of India is with us. But it’s moments like the 2007 World Cup when you really need the kind of support to boost the players.

“I still remember it took me over a month to get out of that kind of depression,” he said.