Mickey Arthur was assured of two-year extension after World Cup but PM Imran rejected it: Sources

Former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur was assured by an influential group of cricketers that he would be retained for another two years after the World Cup but Prime Minister Imran Khan rejected giving extensions to the coaching staff.

According to a highly reliable source, an influential member of the Pakistan Cricket Board's Cricket Committee and some other officials in the board had assured Arthur he would be getting an extension as head coach despite Pakistan's failure to reach the knockout stage of the World Cup.

"Arthur was very confident after these assurances that is why he came down to Lahore and spent quite a few days in anticipation of an extension but he was also disappointed and shocked when the PCB announced they were not retaining him or the support staff," the source said.

According to the source, PCB chairman Ehsan Mani had spoken to Imran Khan who is patron-in-chief of the PCB on the matter and the former skipper made it clear that a new team management set-up must be brought in after the World Cup.

READ: Pakistan's Mickey Arthur Hits Out At PCB After Being Given The Boot, Says He Is 'disappointed And Hurt'

Arthur also got a shock when the local media started reporting that when he appeared before the cricket committee he had suggested appointing Shadab Khan and Babar Azam as captains for white and red-ball cricket.

Arthur has now apparently conveyed to skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed that he never said anything against him nor did he give any suggestions to the committee on appointing new captains for all formats.

"Arthur has communicated to Sarfaraz that media reports about him talking about changing the captain were not correct," the source said.

 

Imran Khan had made a huge statement of taking Pakistan Cricket to greater heights

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke about its national cricket team and its standards while he was addressing the Pakistani community in Washington D.C. A video of a part of the speech has surfaced on social media where Imran Khan vows to improve the standards of the team and bring a more professional outlook to the entire team by the next World Cup. 

In the video, Imran Khan explains to the audience that he had initially gone to England to learn the game of cricket following which he came back to Pakistan and taught the game to other players. He said that he will take the task of improving the team on himself and will make sure they play more professionally by the next World Cup. He asked the audience to mark his words and that he would personally ensure that the standards of the team will upgrade. 

"When I reached heights in Cricket, I went to England. I learnt there and came back and raised the standard. Now, after the World Cup, I've decided to improve the standard of the Pakistan team. For the next World Cup, just see, it'll be a professional team on the ground, the best team."

Watch the video here:

Pakistan under Mickey Arthur

Arthur joined Pakistan on May 2016, leading them to a drawn Test series with England that lifted them to the top of the rankings. Pakistan also won the Champions Trophy in England in June 2017, raising their stock in limited-overs cricket.

That win, Arthur said, "brought on a whole new team of young players". "We also became world number one in Twenty20 cricket in this period, which was an achievement," he said.

However, Pakistan has wilted in Tests in the last two years, losing 2-0 to Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates in 2017. In all, Pakistan won 10 out of 28 Tests under Arthur, losing 17 and drawing one. Pakistan has also struggled in ODIs in the last two years. Under Arthur, Pakistan won 29 of 66 ODIs, losing 34 with three no-results. 

READ: PCB Decides To Axe Mickey Arthur, Revamp On The Cards