Umar Akmal born 26 May 1990) is a Pakistani cricketer. He made his ODI debut on 1 August 2009 against Sri Lanka and made his Test debut against New Zealand on 23 November 2009. He is a right-handed batsman and a part-time spinner. Like his two brothers, Adnan and Kamran, Umar has kept wicket for the national team. He was announced as a Franchise Player for the inaugural Caribbean Premier League alongside Pakistani teammates Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik
Personal life
Umar is the youngest brother of Adnan Akmal and Kamran Akmal who are also cricketers, both wicket-keepers.
Early career
Umar represented Pakistan in the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia. After his success at the U-19 level he earned himself a first class contract and played the 2007-08 season of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, representing the Sui Southern Gas team. He is considered a future asset for Pakistan cricket.
He is an aggressive style cricketer. In only his sixth first class
match he smashed 248 off just 225 deliveries, including four sixes.[2]
He followed that up with an unbeaten 186 in his 8th first class match,
off just 170 balls. He fared less well in his second season of first
class cricket, with a string of low scores batting at number 3. He found
form in the final few matches of the 2008/09 season and then in the RBS
T20 tournament thus getting the selectors nod to play for Pakistan A
side on their tour to Australia A.
Australia A tour
Umar came to prominence during the Australia A tour in June/July
2009. In the two Test matches he recorded scores of 54, 100*, 130, 0. In
the ODI series that followed Umar continued his fine form with a
century in the opening ODI encounter off just 68 deliveries. These
performances made him gather considerable praise from the media who were
there to witness him and calls began to grow about his inclusion in the
ODI series for the main Pakistan side against Sri Lanka. Umar made his Test debut against New Zealand at Dunedin
on 23 November 2009. On the third day of his debut test, Umar Akmal hit
129 runs from 160 balls becoming only the second Pakistani to score a
hundred on debut away from home after Fawad Alam. This feat also made
him the first Pakistani batsman to score both his maiden Test and ODI
century away from home, following his ODI century against Sri Lanka. The
innings was noted as special due to Pakistan's tough position in the
match and the hundred partnership which Akmal was involved in alongside
his elder brother Kamran. He followed up the century in the first
innings with a fifty in the second innings.
In only his second Test match he was moved up the order to the
crucial spot of number 3, where he struggled initially but managed to
counter-attack the hostile bowling with his natural flair, making 46
before he was undone by an inswinger by Daryl Tuffey. In the second
innings he was moved down the order to his usual batting spot of number 5
as captain Mohammed Yousuf chose to bat at number 3 himself, and Akmal
looked his usual aggressive self throughout his innings of 52 which came
off only 33 balls. He had his first failure in the first innings of the
third test at Napier where he was caught in the gully for a duck but
scored a rearguard 77 in the second, promoting him to the leading run
scorer of the series. Akmal finished the tour with 400 runs at an
average of 57.14.
Umar Akmal's early success was briefly tarnished by a controversy
during Pakistan's 2009–10 tour of Australia. It was widely reported that
Umar had feigned an injury to protest the dropping of older brother
Kamran for the final Test match against Australia. Umar denied such
rumors and played in the final match without his brother. He was later
fined 2-3 million rupees by the PCB for breaching his contract and
speaking to the media without approval.[4]
ODI and Twenty20 career
In an interview, Umar 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".[5]
Akmal was selected in Pakistan's squad for the One Day International
Series against Sri Lanka in July/August 2009. Having missed out on the
first ODI Umar made his debut in the second match of the series
replacing Mohammad Yousuf
in the middle order. In only his second career ODI Umar scored his
maiden ODI fifty. Umar followed up his maiden fifty by scoring a century
in the very next match. For this match winning effort he was awarded
his first career Man of the Match award.[6]
His exploits in Sri Lanka earned him a place in Pakistan's champions
trophy squad. He played two good innings. His 41 not out against West
Indies was a match winning knock and landed him his second career Man of the Match award.[7]
His next big innings came in the semi final against New Zealand, where
he scored a brisk 55 in a losing effort, before he was wrongly given out
by umpire Simon Taufel, who later apologized.[8]
Despite the fact that Umar Akmal is not a wicket-keeper he kept wicket
for Pakistan temporarily in the third ODI against England in 2010 from
the 27th over onwards because his elder brother Kamran was being
diagnosed for an injury to his finger. Umar Akmal scored 71 runs from 52
balls in his debut World Cup match and was named Man of the Match.[9]In February 2012 Pakistan faced England in four ODIs.
Pakistan's brittle batting meant the team management chose to play Umar
as a wicket-keeper based on his batting, though his brother Adnan was
considered the better 'keeper. The result of choosing the less
accomplished glovesman was that in the first two matches Umar Akmal
missed opportunities to dismiss Ravi Bopara and Alastair Cook early in their innings, and they respectively went on to score a half-century and a century.[10]
Health Issue
While he was playing for the Barbados Tridents, in the Caribbean Premier League, he had to spend a night in hospital after he suffered mild seizures. Following this, the PCB called him back for a complete medical checkup and also dropped him from the upcoming Zimbabwe tour. On 6 September 2013 he was cleared by a neurologist, saying that the seizure was possibly due to a lack of sleep.[11]
For Authentic Islamic books, Quran, Hadith, audio/mp3 CDs, DVDs, software, educational toys, clothes, gifts & more... all at low prices and great service.
0 Comments