The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has rubbished reports of a strain in relationship between head coach Mickey Arthur and the team’s senior batsmen following the side’s dramatic batting collapse at the Centurion on Thursday.
The tourists were batting at 101-1 in the second innings of the first Test against South Africa with Imam-ul-Haq going strong with a half-century before a remarkable batting collapse ensued.
Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed all fell cheaply to loose strokes as Pakistan eventually folded for just 190 runs.
That collapse put South Africa in command of the Test with the hosts now requiring just 149 runs on day four to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
According to multiple reports by the local Pakistan media, head coach Arthur lashed out at the senior players including Sarfraz and gave them a public dressing down for throwing away their wickets so cheaply.
The South African-born coach was reportedly said to have been incensed by Pakistan’s habit of suffering dramatic collapses following on from their 1-2 loss in the ‘home’ series in the UAE to New Zealand recently.
Team management strongly refutes baseless allegations regarding team meeting disorder https://t.co/zTXy7BWJfZ
— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) December 28, 2018
However, the Pakistan team management has come out to deny the reports and had stated that all is well between the coach and the players.
“As per the norm, Mickey held a debriefing meeting at the end of the day’s play which was held in a cordial atmosphere with inputs from team members and management as is the usual practice,” the team management said in a statement.
“The head coach, team management, captain and all team members are totally united with a singular aim of producing positive results.
“The team manager and rest of the management hopes that media would refrain from speculating on the matter.”
