‘Pakistan Cricket continues to shoot itself in its foot,’ says former coach Micky Arthur

Everyone has been targeting Pakistan Cricket lately. After former coach Jason Gillespie slammed the current selector and head coach Aaqib Javed by calling him a clown, another ex-team coach, Mickey Arthur, joined the queue, bashing their cricket left, right and centre.

Pakistan hosted the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy 2025, their first home ICC event in 29 years. They virtually exited the first round just six days into the tournament after losing to New Zealand and India before a washout against Bangladesh later confirmed their elimination from the home event. What’s worse? Reports of fallouts within the team and the management began doing rounds on social media, with everyone pouncing on it to bash them.

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Arthur, who coached Pakistan to its maiden Champions Trophy title in 2017 when they beat India in a one-sided final, said Pakistan is its own enemy, and they continue to shoot in its foot every time. Backing and praising Gillespie as a coach, who had to cut short his ties with the PCB just six months into his job, Arthur said,“I love this quote, to be brutally honest. Jason Gillespie is a wonderful coach and wonderful man. Pakistan cricket just continues to shoot itself in the foot. It is its worst enemy.”

Arthur explained how mismanagement within the board created insecurity among the players and the backroom staff and how disappointing it was for him to watch it unfold.

“There are so many good players; they’ve got the resources now; there's so much young talent. They have incredible skills. And yet, it's still so chaotic. It's really disappointing to see,” he said in a chat with talkSPORT.

Arthur backs Gillespie

Following Pakistan’s early exit from the tournament, head coach Javed said too many changes within the top management caused low morale that led to poor performances in such a high-stakes tournament.

In response, Gillespie called him a clown for bluntly lying to everyone. Gillespie accused Javed of doing everything (in his power) to remove Gary Kirsten and him from their positions (when they were the coaches) and take over that spot, which he eventually did.

Echoing the same lines, Arthur said Pakistan Cricket fails to take things forward despite having every resource.

“They had got some really good coaches who could take them forward. But then that machine that works in Pakistan just keeps undermining, and agendas are driven in the media,” he said.

“It's a jungle out there, and I feel desperately sorry for Gary and Jason. There's no doubt in my mind that they were undermined… it's to the detriment of the players and ultimately to the detriment of Pakistan cricket.”

(With inputs from agencies)