Former Pakistan Coach Mickey Arthur Recalls Ugly Spat With Umar Akmal; Calls Him 'Arrogant'

Former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has recalled an ugly spat that took place between him and tainted Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal during Arthur’s reign as the coach. It seems as if the barrage of troubles just doesn’t seem to come to an end for Umar Akmal.

Umar has faced a three-year ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for not reporting corrupt approaches before the start of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Now, former head coach Mickey Arthur has shed light on a dressing room clash with the former batsman and stated that he is a tad bit arrogant.

Mickey Arthur also stated that he would be surprised to see Umar Akmal back playing professional cricket for the Pakistan Cricket Team.

Mickey Arthur Sheds Light On An Ugly Spat With Umar Akmal

A scuffle broke out between Umar and Mickey after that; the former alleged that the head coach verbally abused him. Arthur suggested that his motive was to bring Akmal back onto the right path, and he had to use some strong words to do that.

“I thought he was arrogant during the incident at the high-performance centre. He went up to our fitness trainer Grant Luden and asked him for his fitness programme, despite the fact that he was given six to seven of those in the past,” Mickey Arthur said.

“He then walks up to Grant Flower and asks ‘can I have a hit?’ which I thought was unbelievably arrogant,” Arthur added on BSports Pakistan’s official YouTube channel.

I Taught Him A Lesson Subsequently: Mickey Arthur

Arthur then decided to intervene and teach the Jr. Akmal a lesson by asking him to improve his fitness and form before turning up at the NCA to use the facilities.

“That’s is where I told him lets go and have a chat. I told him that you need to sort things out first which includes improving fitness and scoring runs before coming to the academy to use our facilities. I might have used a couple of stronger words as well but that was to shock him into some sort of action,” the ex-coach stated.

“If Pakistan picked him again, I would be very surprised and it would be a very poor decision,” Arthur opined.

While a three-year ban is expected to have a significant impact on Umar’s hopes of a national team return, Arthur believes it’s all but over for the 29-year-old.

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