Umar Akmal made some stunning allegations against Arthur
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has formed a committee to investigate batsman Umar Akmal’s allegations against head coach Mickey Arthur.
The committee will consist of cricket operations director Haroon Rasheed, director of media Amjad Bhatti and the PCB’s general manager legal Salman Naseer.
Akmal claimed that Arthur verbally abused him and barred him from using the facilities at the National Cricket Academy.
While the PCB vehemently denied all the accusations Akmal made, the 27-year-old urged the board to launch a probe into the rift between him and Arthur when responding to the show-cause notice he was issued.
“The PCB strongly condemns reckless statements made by batsman Umar Akmal with regards to his omission from the ICC Champions Trophy squad,” a statement from the PCB had said. “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 required fitness level.
“The PCB awaits his response to the show cause notice issued to him yesterday and hopes that, in the meantime, the batsman will refrain from making baseless allegations.”
The investigation is likely to take some time to complete as chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was a key witness, is not in Pakistan as he is performing Hajj.
Arthur is also out of the country on holiday and is only expected to return in the second week of September.
Arthur’s predecessor, Waqar Younis, admitted that the issue needed to be looked into, but hinted that Akmal was overreacting.
“This matter needs to be resolved by way of mutual understanding,” Younis had said on Thursday. “Someone needs to sit Umar down and explain to him that when a teacher or any other senior figure ticks you off, it isn’t such a big deal.
“I don’t think Mickey Arthur would have gone overboard when chastising Umar. It’s purely frustration on his part because he isn’t part of the team.”