Mickey Arthur Scolded Me and Used Bad Language in Front of Inzamam-ul-Haq: Umar Akmal

Aug 17, 2017 at 12:24 PM

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Mickey Arthur Scolded Me and Used Bad Language in Front of Inzamam-ul-Haq: Umar Akmal

Pakistan’s discarded batsman Umar Akmal has once again hogged all the limelight albeit for the wrong reason, as he has launched a scathing attack towards head coach Mickey Arthur after being allegedly verbally abused by the former South Africa and Australia coach.

Currently out of the team, the right-handed batsman, who made his last international appearance against Australia earlier this year, was not a part of Pakistan’s victorious Champions Trophy squad after failing two consecutive fitness tests. Consequently, he was sent back to Pakistan to improve his fitness.

During the explosive press-conference in Lahore, Akmal told the journalists that he was not only insulted by Arthur but was also deprived of the opportunity to improve himself. The 27-year-old was initially named in the national high-performance camp organised by the NCA but pulled out citing a knee injury. Akmal said he had informed the officials and took five weeks off during which he underwent rehabilitation with his private trainer in England.

However, when Akmal returned to Pakistan earlier than expected and wanted to join the training sessions at the NCA with the national coaches, he was denied the chance, as the coaches made it clear that they were currently working with contracted players.

“I had gone to England for rehabilitation of my knee injury,” Akmal said. “After I recovered, I went to the NCA to start working on my fitness and training. But the coaching staff doesn’t want to work with me at all. When I asked why all those international coaches didn’t want to work with me, they responded that they wanted to prioritise working with players who had central contracts. I said that I too am an international Pakistan cricketer, and if my fitness is lacking – and I admit that along the way my fitness has been found wanting – they should help me.

“I then went to talk to the chief selector (Inzamam), but he referred me to Mickey Arthur. Arthur took me back to Inzi bhai’s room and started scolding me and using bad language in front of Inzi bhai, which I found demeaning and insulting.

“It’s not even my fault, and I find it painful that anyone should be allowed to swear at me. I accept my fitness isn’t up to the mark, and I am trying to work on it, and I asked to be allowed a trainer to help me. But Mickey said I shouldn’t even have come to the NCA and should be playing club cricket instead,” he added.

Credits: AFP

Akmal further stated that Arthur swearing at him is ‘like abusing all of Pakistan’. Not only that, the batsman went on to make some serious allegations towards the South Africa national, claiming that the coach swears at players during every match and urged PCB chairman Najam Sethi to consider the issue ‘very seriously.

“He [Arthur] shouldn’t be swearing at me like that, it is like he’s abusing all of Pakistan,” Akmal said. “You look at any cricket match, and you’ll see he’s swearing at one player or the other. I want to reveal this to the public and to all my fans. I request the chairman [Najam Sethi] to take this issue very seriously. When the head coach is allowed to swear at someone whenever they wish, that is unacceptable. As a Pakistani, I could not stomach it.

Credits: Getty

“I want to tell them that even when I try to do something good, I am prevented from doing so. When I take pictures with my fans, they, too, tell me to work on my fitness, and I feel they are right. But now I want to rectify this, everything is being snatched away from me. Why do academies exist? They exist to correct our mistakes. Now you should tell me what to do; I am a Pakistan player,” he added.

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