After outburst at Arthur and subsequent Twitter rant, is Umar Akmal's Pakistan cricket career over?

[Abdullah719]

72 hours ago, the latest news about Umar Akmal was that he had been hard at work on his fitness and was recovering well from an injury after undergoing rehab in England. He was set to play in the National T20 Cup and could have brought himself into contention for selection, at least for T20Is with good performances.

However, Umar held a press conference on Wednesday alleging that Mickey Arthur abused him at the NCA and then went a step further yesterday, claiming on Twitter that there was a conspiracy to keep him out of the 2017 Champions Trophy (winning) squad.

This is not the first time that he's had issues with coaches and has faced disciplinary action from PCB. However, none of his previous transgressions really compares to the latest episode.

Is there any way back for him for him or is it all over?

 

[MenInG]

This is Pakistan cricket. Think that is the answer to this question!

 

[Rana]

Never say never. He may well be back if he scores a 50 ball hundred somewhere. He will be knocking serious doors at the time, even if a deserving unknown scores a 40 ball hundred around the same time

 

[khalil1986]

Should be over however reality is he will be back eventually unfortunately.

 

[kingusama92]

No chance during Mickey's tenure as coach.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

I reckon so.He won't be playing as long as Mickey is coach,thats for sure.

 

[Proactive_]

No. Umar Akmal is the Roman Reigns of Pakistan cricket. He has all the tools which require time to materialise just like Roman; both have strong cores to succeed in their respective fields and both are misunderstood. This phase of Umar Akmal is just like the time Reigns was out with an injury in 2014, which he came back from and eventually won the title fighting and succeeding at defeating his boss. Umar Akmal would do the same.. fully expect him to come back stronger than ever, superman punch Mickey Arthur and go on to win the MOTM in the Final of the 2019 World Cup.

 

[Major]

Anyone who has voted yes, sorry to say but you dont know pakistan cricket.

Misbah didnt want him in the team. Waqar younis didnt want him in thw team, and yet he was still in the team.

Mickey arthus is just a mehmaan for two years. Yes as of yet arthur will put his resisstance on him as umar is a pathetic player but once arthur is gone umar will be back.


This country ended up making shahid afridi as captain. The lobby that made him the captain also backs umar akmal. If afridi could captain pakistan anything is possible.

 

[Pakistanian]

Cussing isn't the same as "abusing", trust desis to dramatize everything.

 

[Hasan123]

He will be back one day.

 

[ads101]

Anyone who has voted yes, sorry to say but you dont know pakistan cricket.

Misbah didnt want him in the team. Waqar younis didnt want him in thw team, and yet he was still in the team.

Mickey arthus is just a mehmaan for two years. Yes as of yet arthur will put his resisstance on him as umar is a pathetic player but once arthur is gone umar will be back.


This country ended up making shahid afridi as captain. The lobby that made him the captain also backs umar akmal. If afridi could captain pakistan anything is possible.

I kind of think this too lol. He's out perhaps until Arthur's captain, but beyond that dunno. He's on the good side of the most popular cricketer in Pakistan in Afridi. Hasn't said anything bad about Inzi who is also pretty popular. Or Imran either.

I don't know if there's lobby backing umar. But yeah I can see him coming back. What Umar has done however is that he'll be out of the team for some time now.

Honestly I don't get him. Cricketers have been left out the wilderness, didn't matter if they were fit or performing. Misbah got stuck out of the team for a long time till he got some luck with the fixing scenario and came back as captain. And he made the most of it.

All Umar had to do was get fit enough to pass the fitness test. Not exactly the hardest thing to do. And maybe some domestic performance (though I don't think he'd even need to top the charts to be recalled). Lots of players would love such an easy path for recall. And yet Umar complains. Doesn't know how good he got it. Or had at least after these remarks.

 

[Hamza_]

I hope his career is over.

 

[Sarfarazian92]

A few journalists are hell bent on bringing up Mickey's past to support Akmal. Hope PCB doesn't crumble under pressure.

 

[MenInG]

To turn back his career from this low will take some doing and should only involve breathtaking performances at the domestic level and nothing else.

 

[PakLFC]

We are hardly blessed with quality never mind great batsman! Umar would be ancient history had we some good replacements waiting on the wings ready to take his place. Don't know what is happening with Harris Sohail where as the likes of Sohaib Maqsood have unimpressed as well. There should be a place for Umar if he can score at domestic level, keep fit and behave himself.

 

[Saj]

It's actually saddening to see how Umar's career has developed.

He can bat, he has shown that in the past. However his head is not right and his focus and priorities seem to be not on crcket.

I honestly think he thinks he is better than what he is and that he can do what he wants and get away with hit.

Sadly he's been a spoilt brat and should be nowhere near the Pakistan team.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Umar the odi batsman is talented. But talent alone isnt everything.

I have a simple rule that no one is above the team. Umar should be banned for upcoming national t20 and should be banned from cricket for atleast 1 year. Shouldnt be allowed to speak in media and if he does, his ban should be increased from 1 to 2/3 years. He is a serial offender.

We should have taken similar steps long back. The culture of player power, ego, politics and ill discipline needs to be changed. It is very clear some journos are behind him for their ratings. Need to strongly deal with all such elements only then we can become a cricketing powerhouse.

 

[Junaids]

It's important for Mickey and the selectors to do nothing.

Just stick to your guns: "you won't be considered til you get fit, stay fit and score a lot of First Class runs."

As always, Umar Akmal's Twitter writer was trying to engineer a short cut.

Don't respond at all.

 

[leatherface58]

Nope. This is Pakistan cricket. He might even return as test captain.

 

[Markhor]

After a run of poor form the temptation will be to recall him.

I hope we resist that temptation - onus must be on Junior to PROVE himself worthy of selection by shutting up, getting fit and scoring runs in domestic.

Arthur and Inzamam must stick to their guns.

 

[TQ89]

I was going to vote for yes but knowing our board and their idiotic practices, i am afraid he will be back in the team after some time. Till now there has been no penalty by the pcb to him. What can I expect to happen?

And sethi & other pcb officials are reluctant to do anything to him as if he is their son in law

 

[umerz]

Should have been over years ago

 

[Syed1]

He isn't even that important of a player. We are doing just fine without him. Let me remind you folks that this uber talented master blaster averages a beautiful 21 runs per innings in the last three years. Wow how will we ever fill the gap left by this gentleman.

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

He will remain as a headache of PCB like afridi for years

 

[BA56]

He will remain as a headache of PCB like afridi for years

Afridi actually had some performances to back up his tantrums. He won more matches for Pakistan than Umar Akmal ever will. He won a World Cup in 2009 and was a star in the semi finals and the finals.

Afridi was a headache but you could see why he was tolerated, but with Umar Akmal there is no reason to tolerate him, he's a failure at all levels. I can't remember the last time he won a match for Pakistan.

 

[Sirris]

If the team hadn't won the Champions trophy under Mickey's guidance it would have been all too easy to throw out mickey and bring back in junior akmal.

I don't know how strong of a backing Umar has behind him. Though it must be pretty strong. But still not strong enough to outcast mickey now after teams heroic win and public enthusiasm for the sport at an all time high. I reckon they are eagerly waiting for mickey to slip up and for them feast on. Though I don't see it happening.

PCB's strong press release makes it obvious that akmal and his gang aren't worth much at the moment. The akmal ship is sinking and there isn't much they can do about it. Instead of repairing the holes in their deck they want to go down throwing dirt at others.

 

[Sirris]

He will remain as a headache of PCB like afridi for years

No way!

Afridi had and still has street cred.

Umar Akmal's support is Kamran bahi.

 

[iniqbal223]

A master plan by Akmal clan; first Kamran Akmal lashed out against who (waqar Younis); then went on to claim that he will bring glory to his CPL team, and what he delivered, nothing in CPL.
I dont know why people even like these Akmals, they have lost many games to Pakistan. Team has never beaten India in mega events because we always had any akmal on our side. I will sacrifice the entire clan for our team to do well and beat India.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

PCB should stand very strict and taken tough actions on players for such activities and make an example out of them... After the CWC'15 he has played only 5 ODI matches and still the same old dramaqueen with zero improvement in fitness and performance..