Mickey Arthur: “I thought he was arrogant during the incident at the high performance centre”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has revealed that he got into a heated altercation with batsman Umar Akmal.

Akmal claimed in 2017 that Arthur swore at him in front of then-chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Recalling the incident, Arthur said in a YouTube video as quoted by Cricket Pakistan: “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. He then walks up to Grant Flower and asks ‘can I have a hit?’ which I thought was unbelievably arrogant.

“That’s is where I told him let’s 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 couple of stronger words as well but that was to shock him into some sort of action.”

Akmal was recently banned for three years by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for failing to report corrupt approaches ahead of this year’s Pakistan Super League (PSL).

He will be eligible to start playing cricket again on February 19, 2023.

Meanwhile, former wicketkeeper-batsman Zulqarnain Haider also made a controversial accusation against Akmal, saying the Pakistan batsman should have been banned for life since he has been involved in “shady dealings”.

Zulqarnain further said that Akmal’s “property and assets should be seized”.

“He has been involved in shady dealings and not only does he deserve a life ban even his property and assets should be seized,” Zulqarnain had said.

The 34-year-old also claimed that he received threats from Akmal and a few others for refusing to underperform in the third ODI of Pakistan’s series against South Africa in the UAE.

It was because of this that Zulqarnain fled the team’s hotel in Dubai and flew to London.

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