LAHORE: The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management committee Najam Sethi provided a much-anticipated update on the possible return of former national head coach Mickey Arthur, stating that the chapter has not been closed yet.

While addressing a press conference here on Monday, Sethi shared that he did not close the chapter of Arthur and is currently in negotiation personally with the former head coach.

“As I discussed earlier, I had not closed the chapter of Mickey Arthur and it still hasn’t been closed yet. I am in negotiations personally with Mickey,” shared Sethi.

The PCB management committee chairman further revealed that the negotiations too, are almost done with Mickey while also expressing his hope to welcome the South Africa-hailed coach again.

“I think, we have completed 90 percent of the journey and hopefully, very soon, we may give you the news that Mickey will be joining us. But, as of now, it’s not settled. There are some issues,” said Sethi.

Sethi further shared that if Mickey takes up the role then the PCB will give him a free hand to make his team.

“If Arthur comes in, we will give him free hand to make his team as we did previously,” Sethi said.

It is worth mentioning that Arthur coached the national men’s side between 2016 and 2019. During his tenure, Pakistan won their last major ICC event – Champions Trophy 2017 – and also rose to the top spot in the T20I rankings.

The South African coach was then removed from the position following Pakistan’s fifth-place finish in the Cricket World Cup 2019.

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