Kamran Akmal-The dropping wizard who finally gets dropped
The Magic of the World Cup is finally over. It was an entertaining tournament and we were quite fortunate to see some serious competition amongst the top teams of the world. We also saw some great upsets in the competition in which teams like England were
continuously beaten by less strong teams like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747. Overall, the World Cup was a complete entertainment package in which everything was available with sufficient quantity.
But there were few individuals who seemed to have stopped growing in their skills during the competition and repeatedly made the same kind of mistake during the world cup. Kamran Akmal was one of those people who committed so many errors while keeping in
the competition that if there was any capital punishment of death for dropping catches than he would have been hanged in the streets of Pallekele. Finally, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board has come to its senses and have decided to axe him from the Pakistani squad for
the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 tour.
Kamran Akmal was simply pathetic during the World Cup and dropped more than 5 catches as a wicketkeeper. His dropping stint started from the league stage Match against New Zealand in which he dropped 4 catches. He dropped Ross Taylor (131*) number of times
in the Match and some of these dropped chances were pretty simple for a professional keeper. When Taylor was in the early phase of his innings he dropped a straightforward catch of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 of the bowling of Shoaib Akhtar.
The dropped catch made no sense as a kid who plays in his backyard could have taken it with ease. Stunts like these forced the Pakistani fans to classify him with the name of “dropping wizard”. The thing is simple Kamran Akmal should have been dropped a
lot earlier. He was dropping catches before the world cup and was not keeping with full dedication in different series and events.
In the match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, he let go number of balls that were a bit difficult to reach and did not show much willingness to go after these balls. It’s very strange on part of PCB that they were sticking with a player who is not fully fit for the
keeping job and could prove a disaster in a crucial Match. If a keeper is dropping catches quite regularly than his presence in the team is a huge gamble and a liability as it’s just a matter of time that he would show weaknesses against good sides and would
drop some crucial catches in a match.
In case of Kamran Akmal, this theory proved correct as he was not at his best in keeping and was not keeping in a “consistent” manner. Though, he did have some purple patches in different league matches, but as he was not proving to be consistent so there
was a fear that he might not be fully prepared with his catching skills. One cannot afford an inconsistent keeper as he might drop a catch which could prove decisive in determining the fate of the Match. In Mohali, he dropped the defensive push of Sachin Tendulkar
and was not able to move his hands to his right in time.
It shows another aspect of Kamran Akmal’s keeping that he is not fully fit and needs some time to work on his weight. This fact was also highlighted by former Pakistani keeper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rashid-Latif-c84084 who was of the view that Akmal is a bit fat. He has been saying
this thing before the world cup and he has been saying the same thing after the tournament. Overall, Kamran Akmal is one keeper who should have been dropped as keeper from the Pakistani side a long time ago.
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