Current Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has, for the first time, admitted that he may have overreacted by sacking four Australian players in the so-called 'Homeworkgate' fiasco.
Four Australian players-Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, James Pattinson and Mitchell Johnson were handed a one-Test match ban after failing to complete a written task given by Arthur, who was the Australia coach during a disastrous tour of India in 2013.
Arthur was eventually sacked by Cricket Australia ahead of the 2013 Ashes series and was replaced by Darren Lehmann.
Speaking in an interview, Arthur reflected on the drastic action that polarised Australian cricket and ultimately led to his demise as coach and admitted that "the punishment may not have fitted the crime".
Three and a half years on, the South African said that despite his best intentions to restore discipline to a dysfunctional dressing room, he may have got it all wrong.
"Well . probably not suspended four guys," Arthur was quoted as saying by news.com.au. "There needed to be a significant stand made. Discipline wasn't where it should be. We wanted to try and create an environment of excellence and we working hard to (do that) nd then something like that happens, so what do you do?"
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"Do you just let it pass? Because if you (do) then the guys that have worked extremely hard at doing what they did will look at it and say, 'well, why did we do it?' You have to keep some integrity in the system," he added.
The 42-year-old further said asserted he could have handled the manner in a different way.
"But maybe the punishment didn't fit the crime I guess and maybe that's something we'd certainly look at. Would I have handled it differently? I guess I might have," the current Pakistan coach said.
Arthur also revealed how he felt compelled to personally reach out to Michael Clarke and clear the air after leaked documents from his legal proceedings against Cricket Australia detailed the explosive allegations that the then skipper had described Watson as a "cancer".
"I reached out to Michael because I felt an obligation to Michael and that was it. And I left it at that," he said.
"Pup and I had a really good relationship. Our relationship was really solid. Obviously around the time when I went through the legal issue there was that stuff that came out which soured our relationship just a little bit, but we've spoken through that," he added.