Published 14:39 IST, March 6th 2020
Wahab Riaz lashes out at Mickey Arthur for replacing him with Mohammad Amir in 2017-19
Wahab Riaz looked a promising prospect for Pakistan in the earlier part of the last decade but his career seemed to go down a never-ending slope. Read more.
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Veteran South African cricketer Mickey Arthur served as the head coach of the Pakistan national team from 2016 to 2019. During that period, Arthur helped the team achieve the famous win against India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final. Besides that performance, the Pakistan team remained highly inconsistent over the course of Arthur's tenure and his contract was not renewed after the team's dismal performance in the 2019 World Cup.
Mickey Arthur had even gone on to complain about the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) not acknowledging his efforts for the team. Now, a clip of Pakistani pacer Wahab Riaz has surfaced in which he can be seen talking about the alleged unfair treatment that Arthur subjected him to.
Wahab Riaz spills the beans on Mickey Arthur's unfairness
In a news clip that was aired on a Samaa TV, Wahab Riaz can be seen talking to the host about the lack of chances that he got from 2017 to 2019. For all his stunning performances in the 2015 World Cup, Wahab Riaz was only a late addition to the Pakistan squad for the 2019 World Cup. In the interview, the left-arm pacer revealed that his international career was hindered by Mickey Arthur's reluctance towards picking him for matches.
In the video, Riaz describes how his central contract class was demoted despite having strong performances under his belt and not failing fitness tests. He also mentioned an incident of how he pointed out to Arthur that his performances were better than Mohammad Amir in lesser matches than the latter. Here is the full video.
I had more performances then Muhammad Aamir but Mickey Arthur demoted my in central contract & because of him I was out of team from 2017 to 2019, Mickey did injustice with me,,,,,,,, Wahab Riaz was in my show
— Shoaib Jatt (@Shoaib_Jatt) March 5, 2020
مکی آرتھر نے وہاب ریاض کیساتھ زیادتی کی pic.twitter.com/EiYMUh2HT0
Here is how Pakistani fans reacted to Riaz's revelations.
Mickey was absolutely right to keep him away from the team.
— Ajay Gordhan Luhana (@agluhana) March 5, 2020
He was so inconsistent even after a 100 come backs.
For me He is no more a international material.
Good for leagues!
Pakistan won champions trophy after droping Ahmed Shehzed & Wahab Riaz after 1st game..Wahab was performing avg..he was rightly droped but wrongly picked again and again
— Ammar Rajar (@AmmarRajar) March 5, 2020
even during wc19 gave just 1 good performnce agst Eng
Riaz announced his departure from the longer format of the game last year so that he could focus more on the shorter formats. He is currently captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in PSL 2020 after regular captain Darren Sammy's unimpressive performance in the PSL 2020. Mickey Arthur has also moved on and is now the head coach of the Sri Lankan team.
The PSL live streaming in India can be done on the Cricketgateway site. The matches can also be watched on the Dsport channel in India.
14:39 IST, March 6th 2020