PCB will hand show-cause notice to Umar Akmal for claiming Arthur abused him

From skipper, Sarfraz Ahmed to almost everyone in the Pakistani cricketing fraternity shares the same opinion about batsman Umar Akmal- that he is a very talented cricketer but could not really fulfil his potential. Even after being selected for the ICC Champions Trophy squad initially, Akmal was sent home after he failed in two consecutive fitness tests.

Earlier this year, he went through an annual assessment. The reports showed Akmal weighs 91 kg and his fat-level reading is 115.6. Any fat-level reading over 100 is considered as excess and may tempt the coach, to not allow the player to feature in such a vital competition, as Pakistani coach Mickey Arthur did. Arthur suggested Akmal played club cricket to regain his posture and composure.

However, the Lahore born batter accused the national team head coach of verbally abusing him. He also said that the senior cricketers, who must have protested, did nothing when Arthur was abusing him. But accusing the coach has landed him in deep waters as the PCB will be handing him a show-cause notice.

What’s the story?

The Akmal-Arthur conundrum began when the 27-year-old batter wanted to avail Grant Flower‘s services at the NCA, but Arthur stopped him in doing so. In his defence, Arthur said that as he is not a PCB contracted player and can’t take Grant’s assistance. He told him to earn the right by playing well in club-level cricket.

But Akmal was too agitated with this comment. When Arthur was asked about it, he clearly said that he didn’t stop Akmal from entering the NCA, but rather stopped him to avail services of any coach there. “Umar Akmal wanted to use Grant Flower’s services for batting. I told him he must first earn the right to go and play club cricket since he is not under PCB contract anymore,” he said.

“He needs to prove himself before he uses our support staff. I never stopped him from using the academy, told him not to use services of our support staff until he earns the right. Umar Akmal cannot expect that the support staff, who are for contracted players, are at his beck and call. No body there should be taken for granted,” Arthur signed off.

After hearing from both the parties, PCB has decided to hand the player a show-cause notice, asking him the reason for his comments about Arthur.