Umar Akmal; A future asset of Pakistan cricket
After a long time, Pakistan cricket has got a young lot of energetic and enthusiastic cricketers. 18 years old pace sensation Mohammad Aamer and the astounding middle order batsman Umar Akmal are the two most recognized names among this fresh blood injected into the plunging Pakistan cricket.
Born on May 26 1990 in Lahore, Pakistan, Umar Akmal is a future asset for Pakistan cricket. He is an aggressive style right-handed batsman. He is the youngest brother of Pakistan’s wicket keepers Kamran Akmal and Adnan Akmal. Both the elder brothers, Adnan and Kamran, are wicketkeepers while the youngest one opted to get a place in front of the wickets with a bat in his hands. He is also a part time spinner.
He played his international debuts across all the three formats of international cricket in 2009. He started his One Day International career on August 01, 2009 against Sri Lanka. His T20 debut was also against the same opponents on 12th August 2009. He played his ever first test match against Blackcaps 24-28 November 2009 at Dunedin.
Umar Akmal represented Pakistan’s U/19 team in the U-19 Cricket World Cup, 2008 in Malaysia. His outstanding performance at the U/19 level earned him a first class contract with the Sui Southern Gas. He represented Sui Southern in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy during 2007/08 season. He plays aggressive cricket.
He scored 248 off just 225 balls, when he was up in his sixth first class match, followed by an unbeaten 186 off just 170 deliveries in his 8th first class match.
He also represented Pakistan A team on its tour to Australia A during June-July 2009. The tour brought the blazing batsman to the prominence. He scored 54, unbeaten 100, 130 and 0 in the two test matches. He remained persistent with his fine form in the ODI series as well, smashing a hundred off just 68 deliveries in the opening match.
In an interview, Youngest Akmal said “My own dream is to one day play for Pakistan alongside Kamran Bhai (Brother) and I'm working hard to try and achieve that goal" and he got the chance after the successful tour of Australia A.
With the brilliant performance against Australia A, he got selectors nod to play for the Pakistan team against Sri Lanka in July-August 2009. He missed the first ODI against Lankan’s but in the second match he got a chance to make his ODI debut replacing former captain Mohammad Yousuf. Umar scored his maiden one day fifty in his second ODI followed by a maiden hundred in the very next match. He also got the Man of the title in that match.
His astounding performance against Sri Lanka earned him a place in the Champions trophy. He was magnificent in the champion’s trophy as well. His match winning 41 not out against West Indies bagged him with a second Man of the Match title. He also scored a brisk 55 against Kiwis in the semi final.
His test debut came in November 2009 against New Zealand at Dunedin. His 129 off 160 balls on the third day was his debut test which made him the second Pakistani player, after Fawad Alam, to smash a hundred in the first match away from home. He is the ever first Pakistani cricketer who scored his maiden one day and test centuries away from home.
Akmal is no longer sponsored by MB Malik. These days he is playing with a Gunn and Moore bat.
So far he has played 6 test, 18 ODI’s and 12 T20 internationals. He scored one century each in test and ODI, while still waiting for maiden hundred in T20 format. So he has recorded 3 T20, 4 Test and 5 ODI fifties.
Umar Akmal was also among those Pakistani players who were banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after the devastating tour of Australia. He was fined 2-3 million rupees by the board accusing him of “breach of contract” by speaking to the media without PCB’s approval.
Umar Akmal is a future asset of Pakistan cricket and the cricket fans would love to see him playing for Pakistan in the long run without indulging into the dirty off-field politics.
Tags: