Mickey Arthur admits using 'strong words' for 'unbelievably arrogant' Umar Akmal
Mickey Arthur recalls an incident with Umar Akmal during his time as Pakistan's head coach.
Pakistan’s former head coach Mickey Arthur narrated an incident where he and now-banned Umar Akmal and were involved in a heated exchange where the former used "strong words", it was reported on YouTube show The Locker Room.
In 2017, Akmal had accused Arthur of verbally abusing him in the presence of then chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq, also claiming that other players had also received similar treatment at the hands of their foreign trainer.
However, Arthur clarified that it was the troubled cricketer's behaviour with coaches and his overall attitude towards fitness that prompted him to become verbal with Akmal.
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"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," he said.
Arthur then admittedly resorted to using some harsh language in a bid to prompt Akmal to clean up his act.
"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 couple of stronger words as well but that was to shock him into some sort of action," he said.
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Furthermore, the former cricketer said he did not believe that Akmal deserved another chance.
“If Pakistan picked him again, I would be very surprised and it would be a very poor decision,” he said.
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