Knives out for Umar Akmal

Moin Khan: Umar Akmal’s talent is useless

Former Pakistan cricketers criticise “irresponsible” Umar Akmal - Cricket News & Articles | CricketCountry.com
Pakistan’s young batsman Umar Akmal has drawn flak from former players and critics for his below-par performance during the just-concluded tour of India.

Even Pakistan’s former captain Wasim Akram singled out Umar for criticism after the third and final one-dayer in Delhi on Sunday.

**"When will Umar learn to play responsibly? He has been around in international cricket now for a considerable time.

He really needs to think about his game now,"** said Wasim.

Umar, the younger brother of wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, got out at a crucial time in the match with Pakistan chasing a low total of 167 set by India.

Pakistan’s former captain Rashid Latif was more forthright in his views about Umar and the match.

“I think it is about time Umar is told by the selectors he is not needed in the national team until he changes his approach and attitude towards the game,” Latif said.

"Umar has to be sent back to domestic cricket until the selectors see a visible change in his approach and attitude.

He has got too many opportunities to realise his talent. But he is not finishing games," Latif said.

**Umar **was also in the eye of the storm before the Indian tour when his department, Sui Gas, which includes Mohammad Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq, sidelined him after he missed some games in the President’s Trophy tournament due to the wedding of his brother Adnan.

Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan also felt that Umar was not doing justice to his enormous talent.

"He is talented no doubt about it but he needs to learn that all this talent is useless until it results in good results for his team. He is just not showing the approach of a finisher which is sad," Moin said.

Umar, who played in three matches on the Indian tour, is expected to be axed for the forthcoming South African tour as the selectors have more confidence in upcoming batsman Haris Sohail.

Ps. Thread dedicated to Waleed

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Talent or technique is not an issue with UA but he lacks commonsense and temperament to stay at the crease. Temperament separates a great from a very good player. Hence I doubt that he will ever fulfil his potential in cricket or become a great player

Agreed it was the final PP over but the RRR was still a very manageable under 4 RPO. You have 6 wickets in hand and loads of overs left. Why would you step out of the crease like that? That was brainless batting. He let the occasion get to him and lost his wicket

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Could it be luck? A break here, a life there and we may be singing a different tune?

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

I think 3+ years is long enough to judge someone in international cricket. UA may become an asset later if he improves his temperament and application at the crease

Let's just hope so

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Its not just getting out of the crease but rather the carelessness (arrogance?) manner in which he came charging down while Jadeja was still relatively early through his action to deliver the ball. The bowler saw him coming down and sent in a faster, shorter pitched ball, which resulted in the stumping.

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

what a waste of a talent. His stumping in the third ODI was unpardonable. He has been playing like this throughout his career, getting out at crucial moments by playing rash shots or behaving silly like he did when he danced down the pitch. Yes, I agree he needs to be dropped till he changes his attitude.

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Hamari qoum nhe sudhar skti bus isko nikal usko nikal don ........

For GOD sake the guy averages 95 in matches he won for Pakistan and why every one blaming him for one match ......He was not given proper chance for the whole series if he was given all three games and he failed I would have said drop him ......

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Again you are missing the point. No one's questioning his talent or skill or even criticizing his performance but the reckless manner in which he repeatedly throws his wicket away. If he had been bowled by a beauty the next ball ... fine, tough luck, no one would be saying anything. But can anyone justify the way he got out in that last ODI? The guy just never learns his lesson

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

It's good in a way that we lost the last ODI because it's going to make the team evaluate their weaknesses and mistakes. Otherwise kuch ziada he over confident ho jana tha.

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

GA didn't watch last match. Getting stumped vs. A spinner is par for the course. In fact it is a higher pct shot than the reverse sweep which batsmen get away with impunity for trying.

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

not par Southie when you know there's only tail to come after you and when the requirement is under 4 with 10 overs remaining

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

I agree with Ehsan bhai, he has been reckless in batting throwing away wickets when needed most. When he appeared on the international scene I was very hopeful that we will have great chances of challenging other teams and chasing targets but when he started throwing wickets away after good starts I knew he had problem of either arrogance or temprament.

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

UA is useless and so is KA, that should be well understood now. Why was Azhar Ali dropped for the final ODI to make room for UA by the team management? Azhar was the best ODI batsman in the preceding SriLanka series. Misbah takes the blame for selecting UA over Azhar Ali, wrecking Azhar's confidence in the process as well.

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Dude Misbah screwed up the last ODI not UA.........Only if he made 10 runs of those 40 dot balls we could have won easily and again in saying his average is 95 in Winning matches

He has played some awesome ODI knocks In England and Australia and Im sure he will do great in SA too infact put him in Test team too his record in overseas test is even awesome than likes of Azhar and Misbah

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Basically Umar Akmal is like the stunted sapling that showed some nice early flourishes of growth that hinted a fruitful future, but now needs some TLC in the nursery of home grounds so that it can recover from this retardation and develop to be a good strong fruit bearing tree.

My *naacheez baghbaani *opinion.
:D

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

That's besides the point. You are still not getting it are you? The game was still not out of Pakistan's grasp after Misbah's departure. All it required was a bit of application and commonsense on UA's part

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Captain leads from the front isnt it?

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

I agree UA played a rash shot too but 70 percent blames goes to Misbah and rest goes to UA

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Misbah played slow but there was a very good reason for that. Pakistan were reeling on 2 down for 14 runs and another wicket at that stage would have completely derailed our chase. The situation demanded a steady partnership, so can't blame Misbah too much for batting the way he did. When UA arrived at the crease the game was firmly in Pakistan's grasp despite the loss of 4 wickets.

As I mentioned in another thread, Pakistan's batsmen, all of them, are not very good at rotating the strike. The game isn't just about hitting 4s and 6s. With the talent he has, UA could have got us home by taking 'intelligent' singles and doubles. Big shots weren't really needed but alas ...

Re: Knives out for Umar Akmal

Misbah did. he was the highest scorer in the match :)