Umar Akmal proposes forming committee to probe rift with Arthur

Umar Akmal responded to the PCB's show-cause notice in a defiant manner, urging the cricket board to form a committee of "well-reputed senior players and government officials" to establish whether Mickey Arthur was guilty of "derogatory remarks" against the player.

In a letter that repeated many of the allegations he had made against the Pakistan head coach in a fiery press conference last week, Akmal promised to apologise to Arthur should the proposed committee find him guilty, but also made clear he expected the same from Arthur if the verdict was in his favour. Calling himself a national cricketer who had "produced excellent results for Pakistan", he said that the law did not allow any person to hurt the feelings and self-respect of another individual. He concluded by expressing full faith in the PCB to resolve the matter efficiently, as it was one "of respect, dignity and pride of Pakistan and its nation".

Akmal was sent home from England after failing two fitness tests leading up to the start of the Champions Trophy - despite initially being included in the squad. Akmal had previously been dropped from a tour of the West Indies in April for similar reasons. He was excluded from that squad after he was the only player, out of 31, to fail the fitness test during a camp held at the National Cricket Academy in March.

"He [Arthur] shouldn't be swearing at me like that, it is like he's abusing all of Pakistan," Akmal had complained last week. "You look at any cricket match, and you'll see he's swearing at one player or the other. I want to reveal this to the public and to all my fans. I request the [PCB] chairman [Najam Sethi] to take this issue very seriously. When the head coach is allowed to swear at someone whenever they wish, that is unacceptable. As a Pakistani, I could not stomach it."