Salman Butt backs poor Kamran Akmal
Kamran Akmal’s recent form has raised a lot of question marks about his place in the national squad. His performance in Trent Bridge was far from satisfactory as his mistakes were criticised by almost all commentators and fans back home. It is not for the first time that Akmal has disappointed Pakistani fans by a poor show of wicket keeping. The player from Lahore was all over the place in the infamous Sydney test against Australia. Pakistan was well on course for victory in the Sydney test but it was Akmal’s missed opportunities that gave Australia a life line and eventually http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 lost the match.
Interestingly, Pakistani skipper and Coach have said that it was Akmal’s missed opportunities that led to Pakistan’s defeat at Trent Bridge yet they have backed him for the upcoming test matches. The coach and captain gave decided to continue with him for the upcoming test matches against England despite of the fact that different media reports had suggested that he will be replaced with someone else.
Commentator Michal Holding and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nasir-Hussain-c78749 were especially critical of Akmal’s performance. They thought that it was unfair for the bowlers to bowl such good deliveries that result in missed opportunities and dissapointment. Pakistan’s veteran opener Rameez Raja felt that it was Kamran’s poor physique that doesn’t allow him to improve on his footwork.
Not only he missed regular catches and stumps, but he was standing some steps behind the required point which allowed a number of catches to fall short of him. Similarly, catches in the slip field fell short as well since the slip fielders had set their mark from where the wicket keeper was standing. Pakistan has back up wicket keepers in the form of Zulqarnain Haider and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sarfraz-c88817 Ahmad. Unfortunately, they have not been given the chance to prove their worth. Kamran’s batting was as bad as his wicket keeping skills. He did not manage to score any run in both innings of the match.
Salman Butt surprisingly supports Kamran Akmal and is hopeful that he will make a strong comeback in the upcoming test matches against England."It has just been one game," Butt said. "This happened to him in Australia as well after that he has done well. If we've lost the game and he has made a mistake against a good side in difficult conditions you don't ask the youngster to come in and bear the follies of somebody else," Butt said. "He has to come up and show his character and make a strong comeback. And we believe he will because he has been a great player."
Pakistan has lost its first test match against England in the four test match series. Pakistan received a humiliating defeat when its batting line up collapsed at a score of 80 in the second innings of the first test match in Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Pakistan entered the first test match with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Young-c41367 and inexperienced batting line up. Despite a lot of promises, the young guns failed to impress and now Mohammad Yousuf has been recalled for the tour and is likely to join the national squad in the next few days.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Danish-Kaneria-c1314 has been dropped from the team and has been replaced by another youngster by the name of Raza Hassan. The move comes after Pakistan’s prime leg spinner failed to impress with his bowling in recent test matches. This recent decision by the PCB is likely to send a wrong message in Pakistan’s dressing room since despite the poor performance by Kamran, he is retained in the playing eleven while Kaneria instead of getting dropped in place of Saeed Ajmal is shown the door in favour of Raza Hassan. Merit should be set across the board for everyone.
Butt said that Akmal’s previous record makes him a good choice for the playing eleven. "The guy has six Test hundreds against the world's best sides and every time he scores runs Pakistan wins or draws the game," Butt said. "So you can't take the credit away from the man. What the skipper is forgetting is that Kamran has only averaged 15.57 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. Kamran’s last 12 months test average is around 26 runs and he has not even scored a half century in his last ten innings.
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