Umar Akmal again finds himself in the soup

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced that it would serve Umar Akmal with a show-cause notice even as head coach Micky Arthur brushed aside the allegations levelled against him by the middle order batsman.

Akmal had on Wednesday accused Arthur of verbally abusing him in front of Pakistan chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq and other senior players, when the 27-year-old wanted to use the facilities at the National Cricket Academy.

"PCB to issue showcause notice to Umar Akmal," the cricket board confirmed in a tweet.

Refuting Akmal's claims, Arthur said he didn't stop Akmal from using NCA but only stopped him from using services of coaching staff as he was no more a contracted player.

"Umar Akmal wanted to use Grant Flower's services for batting. I told him he must first earn the right to go and play club cricket since he is not under PCB contract anymore," Arthur said, as reported by Geo TV.

"I never stopped him from using the academy, told him not to use services of our support staff until he earns the right. He needs to prove himself before he uses our support staff.

"Umar Akmal cannot expect that the support staff, who are for contracted players, are at his beck and call. No body there should be taken for granted," he added.

Akmal was dropped from the Pakistan squad for the Champions Trophy in Birmingham in May this year, after failing two consecutive fitness tests in two months.

This is not the first time when Akmal found himself in the middle of a controversy. From being nabbed from a party, getting detained for using an illegal fancy number plate on his car, and breaking the speed limit while driving the cricketer has been controversy's favourite child from a long while.

--IANS

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