Pakistan wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal threatens to sue
Pakistan wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal has come out fighting in his defense against the allegations made by his former coach Intikhab Alam and assistant Aaqib Javed coach, during the hearing of the inquiry committee meeting which was set up to review and investigate the disastrous Australian performance and results of the tour. Kamran Akmal was understandably very upset over the whole issue, as Intikhab Alam who was the coach during that tour, and Aqib Javed who was the assistant coach expressed their doubts about him and suspicions regarding Akmal not running out Shane Watson while the ball was in his hands. Karmran said the comments made were immensely irresponsible, and after the videos being leaked it has made his life very difficult, and without any proof making such allegations is not appropriate or even justified.
Kamran Akmal said:"I am fed up with these allegations. My family is disturbed. I go out and people hoot me and I am mentally disturbed. I want to clear this unwarranted stigma with my name,” "I want an apology from these people. I will be speaking to the chairman of the board about this as they are employees of the board. If they don't apologize I intend to go to court in my personal capacity.
"The point is (if) these people suspected me of deliberately under-performing why did they keep on selecting me for other matches?”
Let’s face it Kamran has never been the one with dependable hands, he has been known to drop catches every so often, the fact that he is still in the team despite dropping crucial catches on number of occasions depicts the short comings of the selection committee more than his inability. Kamran dropped Michael Hussey’s catches thrice during the 2nd innings of Sydney test match, which Pakistan were on the brink of winning with such a perfect score but Hussey went on to bring Australia back in the match, and eventually Pakistan ended up losing that test match which most blamed Kamran Akmal for as he was the culprit behind Australia’s win. However questions were raised more about Kamran not running out Watson more than dropping the catches. Aaqib Javed the assistant coach during the Australian tour made his feelings clear during the hearing of the inquiry committee, Aaqib said: "I'm not sure, but my suspicions are pretty high. They are high because of other reasons I know about the process already, the people in the surroundings. There is a high percentage. These suspicions are not new in Pakistan cricket; they have happened and been there all along, I was a victim of them. There is definitely a question mark, yes."
While the coach of the team Intikhab Alam while referring to the same incident said, “That run-out I saw, I was flabbergasted. If you see it, it is shocking. The ball came, he was diving so far out, what can I say? We couldn't believe it."
However PCB after the conclusion of the hearing said that there was no conclusive evidence of match fixing or even of its possibilities and the matter was closed. However PCB did hand down some heavy fines to 7 players for their recluse performance including Kamran Akmal. Which is rather confusing, considering they say there were no evidences, then how can they charge him? Nevertheless the ICC anti corruption unit known as ACSU is still investigating the issue to make sure there was no foul play, but there is little hope that anything will actually come out of it or will they actually find any reasonable evidences. One can just hope for the best.
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