Former Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur alleged that that the Pakistan Cricket Board had gone back on some of the assurances that were made by the board, ESPNCricinfo reported.
Arthur and Pakistan called time on a three-year tenure after the ICC Men’s World Cup where the 1992 champions narrowly missed out on a spot in the semi-finals.
“I guess the only disappointment I have out of the whole lot is that there were some people I really trusted who ultimately didn’t follow through,” Arthur told the website in a podcast.
“I’m not talking about the hierarchy, I’m talking about people on the cricket committee that I did trust who sort of said one thing and ultimately did another. So that was the disappointing aspect of it.”
The South African revealed that he had recommended current coach and former captain Misbah-ul-Haq and pace legend Wasim Akram’s names to be included in the PCB committee.
Arthur said: “I said Misbah would be outstanding because he was a godfather of Pakistan cricket and he is – Misbah is an outstanding individual make no mistake about that. And I sort of said, I thought Wasim Akram would be good to get on the committee because I think Wasim just understands the international game so well. He carries a huge stature in international cricket.
He added, “Those were guys I endorsed and guys I really enjoyed. As I say, they had a job to do and they decided it was in the best interests of Pakistan cricket to go with a fresh set of eyes. And it just happened to be that Misbah was on the committee that didn’t renew our contracts and becomes this heir-apparent. Ultimately Misbah will do a good job, Misbah is a good guy and Pakistan cricket made their decision. I was disappointed because I loved every second of that job.”
Arthur also revealed that the board had grilled him following Pakistan’s World Cup exit and was disappointed that a lot of the questions he was being asked were with the benefit of hindsight, regarding selections and also added that some of the queries were factually incorrect. The 51-year-old also said that he definitely wanted to continue and had plans in place to revamp the Test setup in Pakistan, and to build a roadmap for the future in limited-overs cricket.
Finally though, Arthur added, “I was disappointed but at the end of the day, I had three fantastic years with Pakistan.”