After issuing the show-cause notice, the Pakistan Cricket Board, on Friday (August 18), condemned the “baseless allegations” made by Umar Akmal against the head coach Mickey Arthur.
In a heated press-conference in Lahore on Wednesday (August 16), the 27-year-old batsman, known for his careless attitude, tore into Arthur, as he made some sensational allegations towards the former South Africa and Australia coach.
Akmal alleged that Arthur abused him verbally in front of the chief selector, Inzamam-ul-Haq and National Cricket Academy (NCA) coach Mushtaq Ahmed. He also said that the head coach, as well as the support staff at the NCA, told him not to turn up at the Academy after he went there following the recovery from the knee injury.
However, the PCB, in its press release, not only defended Arthur but also slammed Akmal for making “bogus attempt to deviate attention from his own failings”. The board went on to say that the right-handed batsman was handed as many as seven attempts to improve his fitness and raise his standards but failed.
“While making frivolous allegations against the national team management, Umar has made a bogus attempt to deviate attention from his own failings. Umar was given as many as seven chances to improve his fitness and match the standards of his teammates, laid out by the team management,” PCB’s statement read.
“Umar was given a program to improve his fitness like other players before the West Indies tour (held between March 26 and May 10) and after he failed the tests in Lahore, he was left out of the team,” it added.
The board further stated that the batsman was also a part of the squad for the Champions Trophy, but the failure to remove yet another fitness test saw him making way for Haris Sohail just a week before the competition.
“After clearing another test before the squad selection on the eve of the ICC Champions Trophy in England, Umar was included in the eventual 15-member squad. The PCB wants to stress that the team trainer conducts fitness tests of squad members before each international assignment and the tests before the Champions Trophy were conducted as a continuation of the policy. Once again Umar failed to attain the desired level of fitness and the team management was left with no option but to drop him from the squad,” the statement claimed.
The PCB went on to defend Arthur, claiming that the batsman was a part of the coach’s plan for the limited-overs format. The board once again reminded the batsman of the show cause notice before asking him to refrain from making baseless allegations.
“Head Coach Mickey Arthur had placed Umar in his white ball format plans and gave him repeated chances for redemption, unfortunately, though the batsman remained incapable of reaching the requisite fitness level. The PCB awaits his response to the show cause issued to him yesterday and hopes that in the meantime, the batsman will refrain from making baseless allegations.”