The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been amid controversies and criticism for quite sometime now. The cricketing body of Pakistan is undergoing wholesale changes and things keep on going haywire in their system. After Pakistan's 3-0 loss to England in a three-match series last year, Ramiz Raja was sacked as the chairman and was replaced by Najam Sethi. Pakistan had then appointed former cricket Shahid Afridi as the 'interim chief selector' of the men's cricket team but later replaced him with Haroon Rasheed.
There are murmurs that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to re-hire Mickey Arthur as the head coach of the Pakistan men's cricket team. This decision hasn't gone down quite well with former Pakistan skipper and coach Misbah-ul-Haq. It is being said that Arthur will return as the Pakistan cricket team's director. While reacting to this on ESPNcricinfo, Misbah-ul-Haq didn't mince words and he said that this is nothing else but a 'slap on Pakistan Cricket'. Misbah went to the extent of blaming former Pakistan cricketers and said that they damaged the credibility of Pakistan cricket and this has forced the PCB to look for coaches and support staff outside the country.
Arthur had coached the Pakistan cricket team from 2016 to 2019. Interestingly, Pakistan's talks with Arthur failed on the previous three occasions. It is now being said that the Pakistan Cricket Board is very close to finalizing Arthur as the director of cricket for the Pakistan cricket team. If all goes well, then this will be Arthur's second stint with the PCB. Arthur's last stint as Pakistan's cricket team coach concluded after Babar Azam and his men finished in the fifth-place in the 2019 ICC ODI World Cup. The PCB Cricket Committee had then recommended not to renew Arthur's contract and interestingly Misbah-ul-Haq was a part of it. The PCB is already in an ongoing tussle with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the hosting rights of the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup and Najam Sethi (PCB chief) certainly has a lot on his plate to manage and address.
