Former Team Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur voiced his opinions on the side’s current woes. Pakistan continues to struggle on the international and regional stage after multiple embarrassing defeats across formats.
Arthur likened the Pakistan cricket scene to “a jungle” and believes the team’s governing body and media are to blame for their troubles.
Aaqib Javed Tries to Defend Pakistan Cricket’s Poor Performance
Current Men in Green coach Aaqib Javed oversaw a horrendous ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign for the team. Pakistan hosted the event, but their side failed to register a victory throughout the tournament. Javed believes recent changes in selectors and team coaches negatively affected their chances:
“We changed 16 coaches in the last two-and-a-half years and 26 selectors. If you do this to any team in the world, their performance would be the same,” he said.
Jason Gillespie Calls Javed a “Clown”
Former Pakistan coach Jason Gillespie resigned from his role shortly before Pakistan’s terrible Champions Trophy outing. Gillespie blames Javed for undermining his leadership as Pakistan’s coach and labelled the current manager in colourful terms:
“This is hilarious. Aaqib was clearly undermining Gary and I behind the scenes, campaigning to be the coach in all formats. He is a clown,” Gillespie posted on social media shortly after Javed’s comments.
Jason Gillespie Was Right – Arthur
Mickey Arthur came out in full support of Jason Gillespie’s comments and says Pakistan cricket are responsible for their current problems:
“I love those quotes, to be brutally honest. Jason Gillespie, he is a wonderful coach, he is a wonderful man. Pakistan cricket just continues to shoot itself in the foot. It is its own worst enemy.”
Arthur believes Gillespie’s appointment was a masterstroke from the Pakistan Cricket Board before they went back on their decision:
“It is really disappointing to see. When they had signed Gillespie and Kirsten, they had gone down exactly the right route. They had got some really good players because ultimately it is the players that lose out.”
Pakistan Has an Agenda-Driven Media – Arthur
Arthur made further comments and blamed agendas floated through local media as a major cause of Pakistan’s cricket woes. He also termed the country’s cricket scene is a “jungle”:
“I thought they had signed some very good coaches who were going to take them forward. But then that machine just works in Pakistan, it just keeps undermining. There are agendas driven in the media, it is a jungle out there sometimes.”
Pakistan Cricket Undermined Recent Foreign Coaches – Arthur
Mickey feels Pakistan’s cricket board directly undermined their two most-recent foreign coaches (Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie):
“I felt desperately sorry for Gary and Jason. There is no doubt in my mind, I think they were undermined. That is very disappointing because it is to the detriment of the players and ultimately to the detriment of Pakistan cricket.”
Pakistan Cricket Performance in the Last 20 Matches
The Men in Green have played 18 out of 20 scheduled matches since December 1, 2024. Pakistan’s men’s senior team lost 11 out of 18 matches played in just over 3 months.
| Date | Teams | Outcome |
| 01 Dec 24 | Pakistan (165/4) vs Zimbabwe (108) | Pakistan won by 57 runs |
| 03 Dec 24 | Zimbabwe (57) vs Pakistan (61/0) | Pakistan won by 10 wickets (with 87 balls remaining) |
| 05 Dec 24 | Pakistan (132/7) vs Zimbabwe (133/8) | Zimbabwe won by 2 wickets (with 1 ball remaining) |
| 10 Dec 24 | South Africa (183/9) vs Pakistan (172/8) | South Africa won by 11 runs |
| 13 Dec 24 | Pakistan (206/5) vs South Africa (210/3) | South Africa won by 7 wickets (with 3 balls remaining) |
| 14 Dec 24 | South Africa vs Pakistan | Match abandoned without a ball bowled |
| 17 Dec 24 | South Africa (239/9) vs Pakistan (242/7) | Pakistan won by 3 wickets (with 3 balls remaining) |
| 19 Dec 24 | Pakistan (329) vs South Africa (248) | Pakistan won by 81 runs |
| 22 Dec 24 | Pakistan (308/9) vs South Africa (271) | Pakistan won by 36 runs (DLS method) |
| 26 Dec 24 | Pakistan (211 & 237) vs South Africa (301 & 150/8) | South Africa won by 2 wickets |
| 03 Jan 25 | South Africa (615 & 58/0) vs Pakistan (194 & 478) | South Africa won by 10 wickets |
| 17 Jan 25 | Pakistan (230 & 157) vs West Indies (137 & 123) | Pakistan won by 127 runs |
| 25 Jan 25 | West Indies (163 & 244) vs Pakistan (154 & 133) | West Indies won by 120 runs |
| 08 Feb 25 | New Zealand (330/6) vs Pakistan (252) | New Zealand won by 78 runs |
| 12 Feb 25 | South Africa (352/5) vs Pakistan (355/4) | Pakistan won by 6 wickets (with 6 balls remaining) |
| 14 Feb 25 | Pakistan (242) vs New Zealand (243/5) | New Zealand won by 5 wickets (with 28 balls remaining) |
| 19 Feb 25 | New Zealand (320/5) vs Pakistan (260) | New Zealand won by 60 runs |
| 23 Feb 25 | Pakistan (241) vs India (244/4) | India won by 6 wickets (with 45 balls remaining) |
| 27 Feb 25 | Pakistan vs Bangladesh | Match abandoned without a ball bowled |
| 16 Mar 25 | Pakistan (91) vs New Zealand (92/1) | New Zealand won by 9 wickets (with 59 balls remaining) |
Pakistan’s outing at the ICC Champions Trophy compounded their current on-field woes. Defeats against New Zealand (19 Feb 2025) and India (23 Feb 2025) saw one of cricket’s top nations crash out of the tournament without a win. A range of lacklustre performances has seen the Men in Green lose several games against lowly teams since late 2022.
