Azhar Mahmood Supports Arthur, Makes Excuses After Being Removed as Bowling Coach

After being removed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as the bowling coach, Azhar Mahmood, has opened up about underlying problems and his future plans.

Azhar Mahmood, who represented Pakistan from 1996 to 2007, said that saying Pakistan did not improve in recent years is wrong.

Talking to Omnisport, Azhar Mahmood said:

Unfortunately, according to the pundits, we didn’t produce, but there are issues with the fitness culture of players in Pakistan, there are a lot of unfit players. Our fielding, batting and bowling improved. People have to be given time, you can’t produce overnight.

He further claimed that PCB’s indecisiveness regarding Pakistan national team’s captaincy was a huge problem.

Throughout the period they [the Pakistan Cricket Board] never decided on a captain full-time, that was a problem.

Speaking about his future plans and possibly working with Mickey Arthur, he added:

Mickey has served South Africa, he’s served Australia. He’s been around for a while, so why not, I think he would do a great job. I’d love to work with Mickey, we had a great relationship and if he becomes head coach and I had the opportunity to stay and work in England, you can’t ask for anything more than that.

 

Mickey is very passionate, very emotional. He does things with his heart 100 percent, whatever he does. I had a great time working with him, I learned a lot from him and I think he was the right man for Pakistan.

He further added that he might take some time off and review all the offers he has.

I’m looking at my options, it’s good to have a little bit of a break but I’ve already had offers, my phone has been ringing a lot and that was also the case while I was doing the job with Pakistan. I have a lot to offer, I played one-day cricket and have been involved in the T20 format all over the world.