Umar Akmal says head coach abused him

LAHORE: Pakistan’s controversy-prone batsman Umar Akmal has alleged that national team head coach Mickey Arthur berated and scolded him at the National Cricket Academy and asked him to leave the facility.

Umar said Arthur called him undeserving and used foul language against him in front of other senior cricketers.The PCB will be issuing him a show cause notice on Thursday after reviewing his statement given to media.

Umar, who was dropped from the Champions Trophy 2017 squad due to fitness issues, said he visited the NCA for training where he received verbal abuses from the head coach.Umar told newsmen at a press conference at Model Town that he wanted to play for Pakistan but no one helped him regain fitness and he had to go to England to nurse his injury by spending from his own pocket.

He said that he intended to approach the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) against the coaching staff which according to him unfairly dropped him.Umar said that if a player is dropped for whatever reasons, it does not allow the coach to humiliate him when he is making efforts to better his game.

He requested the PCB chief to take notice of the incident. “I am not talking against the PCB, but asking the board to look into the matter,” he added. Umar also complained that “some big names” were present in the room on Tuesday when the head coach abused him.

When contacted, a PCB official said that Umar had taken the wrong course. “He knows the code of conduct. Instead of going to media he should have approached the board,” he added. He said that the board would be issuing a show cause notice to Umar.

“The PCB will look into the matter after going through every line of the statement given by Umar,” he added.  The PCB official stated that the head coach did not use any abusive language against the cricketer, but he asked him to earn his place in the team with performance and fitness.