New Delhi: Following Pakistan cricketer Umar Akmal is one tedious job for any fan. Days after his outburst against Pakistan national team coach Mickey Arthur, the batting talent has taken an U-turn, blaming mental stress and duress.
On Saturday, Pakistani media reported that the 27-year-old, in his reply to the PCB show-cause notice, admitted to breaching the players' code of conduct and promised he will not behave in such manner in future.
He has reportedly written to the PCB that his outburst was a result of mental duress and pressure.
Last month, the controversial batsman claimed that coach Arthur had verbally abused him in front of chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq. He also claimed that senior players did not stop the coach when he was being verbally abused.
Akmal in his first reply had called on the PCB Chairman Najam Sethi to appoint an independent committee to probe the incident and said he would be willing to serve any punishment if found guilty of misbehaving with Arthur.
Sethi appointed a four-member committee to probe the matter and was not satisfied with Akmal's reply and subsequently issued him a second notice giving him ten-day time to respond.
The source said Akmal had consulted his father in law -- former Test leg spinner Abdul Qadir -- who had advised him to avoid a confrontation path with Arthur and the board.
"Qadir advised him to accept his mistake and seek pardon. Umar in his reply has said that he reacted the way he did because he has been under lot of mental strain and duress in recent months but he had gone to the national cricket academy after getting permission from batting coach Grant Flower," the source added.
(With PTI inputs)
