Never suggested a change in captaincy: Mickey Arthur

Former Pakistan Cricket Team Head Coach Mickey Arthur clarified on Sunday that he had not suggested removing captain Sarfaraz Ahmed from captaincy.

According to a report in The Express Tribune, Mickey Arthur clarified to Sarfaraz that he had not suggested removing him as captain from any format of the game.

During the last couple of weeks, news was doing the rounds on the internet that Mickey Arthur had suggested that skipper Sarfaraz be replaced with a new captain.

He also clarified that he did not expect the PCB to not renew his contract when it expired earlier this week.
Arthur had requested for a two-year extension of his contract but the management of the board decided against it.

The decision was taken after Pakistan failed to qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 semi-finals. Although Pakistan beat impressive teams such as New Zealand, England, South Africa and opponents Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the team lost out on the run-rate to take an early flight home.

The PCB had claimed that it would hire another coaching staff to ensure that the team improved further.

“PCB will be immediately undertaking a robust recruitment process after it decided not to renew the contracts of head coach Arthur, bowling coach Azhar Mahmood, batting coach Grant Flower and trainer Grant Luden,” the board had said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mickey Arthur had said that he was ‘extremely hurt and disappointed’ after learning that his contract had not been extended. Arthur said that he had given his 100 percent to uplift Pakistan cricket team.