Right-arm pacer Hassan Ali praised how Mickey Arthur and Sarfaraz Ahmed shaped the career of many players including him.
Hassan, who made his international debut in 2016 when Arthur was head coach and Sarfaraz was captain, spoke about the confidence the two individuals had in their players.
"You ask any player who made debut when Arthur was head coach, he will call him the best coach," he said. "He used to tell us our importance by calling us champion, tiger, lion, and match winner. He used to support us a lot and that is how players were built during his time," he recalled.
Under Arthur's coaching, Pakistan won their maiden Champions Trophy title in 2017. Sarfaraz was the captain at that time and Hassan played an important role in the team's victory, finishing as the highest wicket-taker in the tournament.
"Saifi bhai, then captain, held a meeting in 2018 and told us that we are his main players. The players then used to be selected from a pool of 15 to 18 players. Those players performed for the team and we won matches," Hassan praised.
Sarfaraz is considered one of the most successful captains, having won two ICC trophies - the Champions Trophy and U19 World Cup.
Hassan gave the example of how Arthur continuously supported Babar in Test cricket which made him fine in the longer format.
"After every Test, there were talks about dropping Babar in the next series. But Arthur always said that Babar is a match-winner. He believed in him and see how he became a top batter across all formats," he highlighted.
"You can't take proper outcome from players until you give them proper chances," he concluded.
After Najam Sethi took charge as PCB Management Committee chairman in December last year, Arthur was contacted to rejoin as national head coach.
Due to his contract with Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Arthur couldn't accept full-time role with Pakistan team but he came in as team director.
According to the current contract, Arthur would be available to Pakistan team on-ground during few assignments which include World Cup to be held in India later this year. During rest of the assignments, he will be available to the players online.
- Sarfaraz Ahmed