Clown in a village circus: Raja on Arthur's return as Pakistan team director

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Ramiz Raja, has expressed concerns over the appointment of Mickey Arthur as the director for the Pakistan men’s team. 

Raja criticized the decision of the PCB management committee, led by Najam Sethi, for bringing back a coach who seems to have a divided loyalty between his county job and Pakistan cricket.

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"A first of its kind coach/director of cricket picked to run Pakistan cricket remotely, whose loyalty is first with his county job than Pakistan cricket. This is as crazy as a clown in a village circus," Raja said. 

"A PCB chairman who doesn't understand cricket, probably was not even good enough to make it to the XI in a club game, heads a cabal of political, petty minded club runners for a management committee to run Pakistan cricket affairs, who are on a Rs 12 lakhs a month salary," he concluded. 

This is not the first time that Raja has criticized Sethi and his men, as he himself was removed from the PCB office by the current patron-in-chief, Shehbaz Sharif. The former cricketer was made the chairman of the board by the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, in 2021.

It is worth noting that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) yesterday, confirmed Mickey Arthur’s appointment as the Director of the National side. In this role, Arthur will be involved in designing, formulating and overseeing strategies behind the Pakistan men’s team.

The 54-year-old will also be a part of the coaching staff for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, away tour to Australia and home series against the West Indies. He will also be present with the side for Pakistan’s matches against India in the ACC Asia Cup.