"I would have had a bit more respect for Zaka if he'd said it straight out" - Mickey Arthur on his exit as team director after PCB review meeting
Former Pakistan team director, Mickey Arthur, recently spoke about the events leading up to his exit, effectively ending his association with the Men in Green.
Arthur's second stint with the Pakistan cricket team was carried out in a rather unorthodox fashion, as he was also simultaneously contracted to the Derbyshire county in England. Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Najam Sethi, was quite insistent on having Mickey Arthurgr on board to assist former head coach Grant Bradburn as well as the players.
While the veteran coach's first stint was glittered with a rise in ranking across formats as well as the 2017 Champions Trophy title, his second and most recent spell with the team was a forgettable affair. Pakistan failed to qualify for the finals of the 2023 Asia Cup and finished fifth in the 2023 ODI World Cup in India.
In November 2023, the PCB conducted a review meeting where the coaching staff had to present their findings over the team's inability to qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup and speak about the poor performances in general.
"The whole review was just a charade. I would have had a bit more respect for Zaka if he'd said it straight out. The way I realised the whole thing was a charade was Mohammad Hafeez was already sitting at the PCB offices," Mickey Arthur said in an interview with ESPN Cricinfo.
"I got a little whisper in my ear that Zaka wanted to see me in a separate office in the museum at the HPC [High Performance Centre]. I went in, he asked me a whole lot of questions and then he said, 'look, we're going to remove the whole support staff and captain, basically, and that was it'," Arthur added.
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman, Zaka Ashraf, opened up about the radical decision to part ways with the entire coaching staff. The likes of Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn and Andrew Puttick were replaced by Mohammad Hafeez, Adam Hollioake, Saeed Ajmal, and Umar Gul ahead of Pakistan's tours of Australia and New Zealand.
"Hafeez was the team director like Mickey and had to manage things, which he did in a professional way. At critical situations during international tours, Mickey had to fly and he had refused to join Pakistan because of his contract with Derbyshire county. He was basically coaching online. I have all my respect for him, but how can you do coaching on Zoom?" Ashraf told ESPN Cricinfo.
Zaka Ashraf resigned from his position as the Chairman of Management Committee in January 2024, and has been replaced by Mohsin Naqvi as PCB Chairman.
Mohammad Hafeez's stint as team director has witnessed quite a rough start after Pakistan suffered a 0-3 whitewash at the hands of Australia away from home, and lost the five match T20I series against New Zealand by a 1-4 margin as well.
"You can't just reassign the team director, head coach and batting coach of the national team" - Mickey Arthur
Instead of completely ousting the overseas coaching contingent off their contracts, the PCB announced that Arthur and Co. were given roles within the framework at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. However, it was not long before the trio decided to put in their respective resignations and part ways with the PCB for good.
"The PCB said we would be reassigned, but that was impossible. You can't reassign people who have signed contracts. You can't just reassign the team director, head coach and batting coach of the national team. That was a charade to get rid of us," the veteran coach said.
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