Here comes Umar Akmal!
Umar Akmal comes to the crease and his outfit is not the only green one will see; his wrist band, his shoes, and the most obvious, his florescent green lip balm lights up the cricket ground.
He has managed to gain immense popularity because of his colourful persona, aggressive batting style and brilliant fielding. Runs never cease to flow when Umar Akmal is at the crease; he never hesitates hitting the ball freely,
even if his team is in the most vulnerable of positions. His strike rate is extremely impressive; in one-day internationals it is 82.93 and in T20s it is a phenomenal 127.80.
Born in Lahore in 1990, the 20-year old Umar Akmal was first noticed in the cricket circles because of his impressive performance at the domestic level. He represented Pakistan in the 2008 Under 19 World Cup in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Malaysia-c2949. After
his brilliant success at the Under 19 level, he managed to get a first-class contract and played the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, representing the Sui Southern Gas team in 2007-08. His impact was felt immediately when he made 248 off just 225 deliveries in only his
sixth first class match; he smashed four sixes in the match.
Umar’s performance was exceptional during the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 A tour as well which took place in June/July 2009. Even though he is not known as a natural test match player, in the two test matches he recorded scores of 54, 100 (not out),
and 130. He continued his brilliant form in the ODI’s as well – making a century in the opening ODI off just 68 deliveries. His consistent form and pinch-hitting batting style earned him a position in the Pakistan cricket team.
In one of his very early interviews before his international debut, Umar was reported saying "My own dream is to one day play for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 alongside Kamran Bhai (Brother) and I'm working hard to try and achieve that goal".
His wish indeed came true as he played alongside his brother in his one-day international debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in July 2009; he came in as a middle-order batsman, replacing Mohammad Yousuf. In only his second ODI, Umar scored
his first ODI fifty. Umar scored a century in the very next match. For this brilliant, match-winning performance he won his first Man of the Match award.
Besides being a great cricketer, he is also known as a very chatty person; he is always seen chirping on the field, either with other fielders, and sometimes even with the opponents, the latter often creating tension. This was
seen in the fifth and last one-day international between Pakistan and England where Umar Akmal was noticed exchanging a few harsh words with David Collingwood when he came to the crease. Also, there was an exchange between Trott and Akmal which made a lot
of buzz in the commentary box during the match. According to many cricket pundits, he is just enthusiastic about the game and is very young, so his excitement on the field is understandable.
Umar Akmal is still new to the game as it has hardly been two years since his international debut. He has played 12 test matches, 23 ODIs and 16 T20s, and averages 37.18 in test matches, 36.20 in ODIs and 27.91 in T20s. His average
seems to be poor in test matches and one-dayers as he struggles to stay at the crease for longer periods of time. He cannot play the role of anchoring or building an innings, he is just suited to come in the end overs to slog as that is his natural game. This
is the reason why he excels in the shorter format.
He really has proven to be an asset for the Pakistan cricket team; a solid middle order batsman with an aggressive, attacking batting style, a useful fielder, and a cricketer with swagger, no wonder the crowd are on their feet
whenever Umar Akmal comes to the crease.
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