Arthur hits back at Akmal brothers

Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur has hit back at the Akmal brothers after wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal accused the former Men in Green coach of promoting favoritism and selecting players based on likes and dislikes.

While speaking to the media in Karachi, the former Pakistan coach said that he believed Kamran and middle-order batsman Umar Akmal didn’t have the ability to win games for the country.

“You pick guys that you think can matches for the team. I did not think that Umar and Kamran Akmal could win matches for Pakistan. I thought they had their time,” said Arthur. “I think Pakistan needs to invest in these young players that they have got. As a coach you select who you think are the best players that can win games for you.”

“Unfortunately, you can only keep 11 to 16 guys happy.  Other people outside the squad are never happy. But as a coach you can’t worry about other people. You worry about the guys you have and developing them. I picked the boys who could win games of cricket,” he added.

In a recent interview, Kamran had slammed Arthur for ignoring deserving players under his tenure.

“Don’t know about this new team management but the previous one highly promoted favouritism. They didn’t give respect to the players who performed at the domestic level,” said Kamran. “What was wrong with Iftikhar? Previous management even didn’t bother to try him. And now see his importance. Like Iftikhar, many other players were ignored.”

“By saying youngster, youngster, our cricket has gone down. Their whole tenure was based on [the] Champions Trophy triumph. How long will you survive with just a single achievement?” he added.

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Arthur also added that he was surprised to see no specialist spinner in Pakistan’s playing XI in the Rawalpindi Test.

“I was surprised to see Pakistan play with no spinner in Rawalpindi Test,” said Arthur. “At the end of the day, conditions might have said that to you and it would have ironical because we considered playing two spinners there, so it would have been like what just happened here? We are playing two spinners and Pakistan are playing four quicks.”

“As a coach and selection panel, you need to see how best you can win the game and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and that’s the art of coaching,” he added.

The second Test of the two-match series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka will begin on December 19 in Karachi.