Did the Lahore Qalandars team management scapegoat Umar Akmal for a poor PSL 3?

[Savak]

No one is denying Umar Akmal didn't have any issues of his own which are well documented but i found it extremely cheap and pathetic that the likes of Brendon Mccullam, Aqib Javed and the rest of the team management have laid the entire blame of their entire campaign on one player when it was the easiest option to do so.

As far as i know Umar Akmal is just one player and one individual. One individual had a detrimental impact on 15 plus other guys in the team?

Was Umar Akmal responsible for Brendon Mccullam's reckless captaincy, decisions in the team?

Was Umar Akmal responsible for Aqib's poor incompetent coaching?

Was Umar Akmal responsible for Lahore's batting collapses and for the rest of the batting line up failing to grasp the match from decent winning positions?

Was Umar Akmal responsible for the bowlers bowling dreadfully?

Even Inzamam ul Haq had a torrid depressing 2003 WC where in an interview he mentioned that it was the hardest he ever trained for an ODI tournament and had lost a lot of weight and had put in time in the nets but nothing worked for him and he could only score 16 runs in the whole tournament. That didn't mean that Inzi was not a good player and that he would never get back among the runs ever again.

My point is that Umar Akmal was going through a bad patch but i expected Brendom Mccullam to show a bit more class rather than to throw a team mate under the bus. He has a lot to answer for himself.

Rana Fawad needs to take his childish glasses off and take some hard decisions. If Umar Akmal will be fired then so do the captain and coaching staff deserve to go as well.

 

[Railu Katta]

You can't possibly be defending Umar Akmal. As incompetent as Aqib is, Umar Akmal isn't going through a bad patch. This is how he is. He should NEVER be selected for Pakistan or in PSL.

 

[Savak]

You can't possibly be defending Umar Akmal. As incompetent as Aqib is, Umar Akmal isn't going through a bad patch. This is how he is. He should NEVER be selected for Pakistan or in PSL.

I actually will. I think scapegoating a disasterous campaign on a troubled individual is the easiest thing to do in the world and Umar Akmal is being made a convenient scapegoat here to brush aside the failings of Mccullam and Aqib.

Lahore Qalandars have crashed out for 3 seasons in a row at the bottom of the table. Umar Akmal was the star performer in PSL 1 so there are far more deep rooted problems. In fact a lot of the defeats the Qalandars faced in this seasons PSL has to do with Mccullam's poor captaincy.

 

[badsha001]

Aqib Javed should be sacked immediately and get a professional coach...

 

[khiska]

I actually will. I think scapegoating a disasterous campaign on a troubled individual is the easiest thing to do in the world and Umar Akmal is being made a convenient scapegoat here to brush aside the failings of Mccullam and Aqib.

Lahore Qalandars have crashed out for 3 seasons in a row at the bottom of the table. Umar Akmal was the star performer in PSL 1 so there are far more deep rooted problems. In fact a lot of the defeats the Qalandars faced in this seasons PSL has to do with Mccullam's poor captaincy.

Interesting... well should we disagree and bring out instances of his past which may seem to correlate and satisfy the bias McCullum holds your impression of being made a scapegoat might hold some value, LQ could have easily labelled Akmal as bad cherry infecting rest of the team with his attitude and not a whole lot of convincing would be required.

However I dont think he has been made out to be a scapegoat. Yes, the public may see him as one but at no point that LQ say they were failing because of U Akmal, they rejigged their combination and started winning and various factors could attribute to that.

U Akmal on the other hand as mentioned many times over the course of PP has a well documented rap sheet, from his troubles with Waqar to domestic games, to being dropped from games in CPL... there must be some truth to the view LQ holds.

Either way they have lost and as far as the articles I have read LQ have not made excuses for their poor initial performance. Team seemed to be gelling well towards the end and I hope Baz returns next year more determined than ever

 

[Madplayer]

I agree with OP.

One player in Umar Akmal is not responsible for the entire Lahori debacle. He is part of the problem but not the entire problem. Aqib Javed is also a problem.

 

[fitCricFan]

I agree as well. It is McMullum's captaincy that is too blame for LQs debacle.
Yes, UA did not perform as expected, no biggie, but he alone is not responsible for LQs failure to make to the playoffs
Now being at the bottom of the barrell had to be poor captaincy or coaching or both

 

[kingusama92]

Spot on.

Umar Akmal is a part of the problem (no doubt) but more blame should be going towards Aqib Javed and Brendon McCullum.

It's easy to position Umar Akmal as an unstable team wrecker but the Qalanders would be in the same position with or without him.

 

[The_Odd_One]

I may have missed it but as far as I remember Akmal was criticized for his individual poor performance. Did anyone from LQ really blame their entire team's poor performance on Akmal alone?

 

[msb314]

Agree with OP.

Keep in mind that UA did well in the first season but LQ still finiished last so clearly there problems lie elsewhere too.

 

[Savak]

I may have missed it but as far as I remember Akmal was criticized for his individual poor performance. Did anyone from LQ really blame their entire team's poor performance on Akmal alone?

2-3 statements by Brendom Mccullam against Akmal and the reference that Umar should learn from his brother were pretty poor and thoroughly unprofessional. And then you had Aqib's statement against Akmal. Players go through bad patches in this game.

Both have tried to cover their own faults by constantly talking about Akmal in the public

 

[kingusama92]

I may have missed it but as far as I remember Akmal was criticized for his individual poor performance. Did anyone from LQ really blame their entire team's poor performance on Akmal alone?

1) Statement from McCullum ("players don't listen to me" followed by calling Akmal out)
2) Statement from Aqib Javed ("We did not [drop Akmal] purely based on his performance")
3) Rumors of Akmal Not Traveling With Teammates

That just screams scapegoating.

Akmal doesn't deserve sympathy but he's a non-issue compared to McCullum and Javed.

 

[Indiafan]

Poor, poor guy, he becomes the scape goat where ever he goes. From waqar to brandon, everyone hates him and blames him. What a life!

 

[bilalmasaud]

lol! i have supported umar akmal for a good part of his career unfortunately hes now used up all the excuses i could come up for him... Pointing out umar's issues is different to blaming him for the debacle of LQ. i don't think anyone really blamed him. if anything BM offered to step down sighting a change of leadership might help LQ. this shows they owned up to their mistakes. Unlike the Akmals who have been blaming the yet to be found universe for conspiring against them.

 

[Slog]

Why is everyone so jealous of Umar Akmal.

From Waqar to his domestic coach Basit Ali to Mickey Arthur to Brendon McCullum

 

[Hasan123]

Umar Akmal should be held responsible for his own performances. For the overall performance of Lahore,Baz,Aqib,and the decision makers in squad selection should be held responsible and ultimately sacked for LQ nightmare season.

 

[Big Mac]

OP complaining about one man being made a scapegoat for the entire team's problems is so wonderfully delicious.

 

[Slog]

OP complaining about one man being made a scapegoat for the entire team's problems is so wonderfully delicious.

Lmao this makes it even more precious

 

[asma_cricfan]

He will receive the largest pay cheque among his team mates. He is the one who is most responsible for LQ humiliation as he was the most experienced pak player in LQ.

 

[rhony]

Well...they started winning after they dropped him. So...

 

[j_kazmi]

Well even if they did he probably deserved it

 

[Mirpur express]

I heard Aqib the jadoogar started working with the LQ batsmen۔۔۔ the rest is history as they say, as for Umar he should be blamed for everything that’s wrong with Pak cricket ,I say
#NOMOREPATWARIBATSMEN.

 

[sully3]

B Mac is an awful captain, doesn't understand sub content captaincy and tactics you simply cant take a gun hoe approach in Asian conditions.

Funnily it was under Azhar Alis captaincy in PSL1 when Umar Akmal was at his best averaging 75 for the tournament.

Also Umar is no saint either, there are issues and these issues will eventually come to your head when things arent going well.

The question is who is going to pick Umar in the next PSL because as of right now i dont think any franchise will touch him.

 

[MenInG]

So could it be the case that Umar may actually do well under Sarfaraz Ahmed in PSL 4?

 

[Savak]

So why dropping Mccullam LQ admitted that his disasterous captaincy was a factor. Even Shoaib Akhtar in a few interviews held Mccullam's rash incompetent captaincy responsible, he even admitted that Mccullam had resigned midway last season but to save face LQ requested him to remain captain till the end.

 

[Hasan123]

He's a good T20 player. Don't see why he was let go .

 

[MRSN]

blunder by LQ. Aqib is known for such blunders. UA was looking in good form and should have been retained.

 

[Rana]

Highly impressive comeback so far. Hope he goes on to win this match for Quetta but also stays humble and looks to keep building on this

 

[Hawkeye]

The most deserving player for PAK national team after Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, and probably Imam.


Bring him back and treat him with care.

 

[Forum363]

You can’t clap with one hand. There is a reason he is always made the ‘scapegoat’.

There were undoubtedly issues with the Lahore team over the last couple of seasons but I highly doubt the management got together one day, talked about the issues - ‘okay we’re doing awfully again this season, need to pin this on someone.’ *someone sees Umar Akmal outside training hard and playing with flowers* ‘yeah let’s just blame that guy’.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Umar playing under Sarfraz is a blessing for Umar.

Akmal type players thrive under Sarfraz.

Players like Umar need consistent guidance and someone who believe in them, who can take the best out from them.

 

[Chokli]

You can’t clap with one hand. There is a reason he is always made the ‘scapegoat’.

There were undoubtedly issues with the Lahore team over the last couple of seasons but I highly doubt the management got together one day, talked about the issues - ‘okay we’re doing awfully again this season, need to pin this on someone.’ *someone sees Umar Akmal outside training hard and playing with flowers* ‘yeah let’s just blame that guy’.

Lahore Qalandars is basically Pakistani Cricket Team on a smaller scale

 

[Chokli]

Brilliant innings by Umar Akmal today.

Team management, captain definitely play a role in the players success.

 

[Savak]

Yeh Brendon Mccullam talk nah. Not even good enough to be picked by PSL anymore, over rated captain who was an utter failure outside of captaining in his home country.

 

[Savak]

You can’t clap with one hand. There is a reason he is always made the ‘scapegoat’.

There were undoubtedly issues with the Lahore team over the last couple of seasons but I highly doubt the management got together one day, talked about the issues - ‘okay we’re doing awfully again this season, need to pin this on someone.’ *someone sees Umar Akmal outside training hard and playing with flowers* ‘yeah let’s just blame that guy’.

You have to be utterly naïve, in this world no matter where you go, people will do anything to save their *****. In the professional world I have seen this many times where all the talk of team work, brotherhood, mentorship and friendship goes out of the window when the higher ups put pressure below and demand answers and then out of the blue everyone goes out of their way to save their own behinds and look for weak targets

 

[Forum363]

You have to be utterly naïve, in this world no matter where you go, people will do anything to save their *****. In the professional world I have seen this many times where all the talk of team work, brotherhood, mentorship and friendship goes out of the window when the higher ups put pressure below and demand answers and then out of the blue everyone goes out of their way to save their own behinds and look for weak targets

Yes that may be completely true but when it happens repeatedly and the same points are repeated by Waqar and Mickey and McCullum, then surely a pattern has started to emerge and there is a clear issue with Umar. If i remeber correctly, he gad disciplinary issues when he was younger before he made his debut and then there was the faking injury episode.

To call him a weak target is simply ignoring these events.

 

[Savak]

Yes that may be completely true but when it happens repeatedly and the same points are repeated by Waqar and Mickey and McCullum, then surely a pattern has started to emerge and there is a clear issue with Umar. If i remeber correctly, he gad disciplinary issues when he was younger before he made his debut and then there was the faking injury episode.

To call him a weak target is simply ignoring these events.

Not saying Umar doesn't have his faults, maybe his issues makes him an easier target to lash out at especially when things are going wrong.

I remember in the 2008 IPL when Shahid Afridi was having a horror run with the bat and his failures were hurting the team badly. However the captain Adam Gilcrhist no matter how many times he was questioned about it in the press conferences stood thick and skin behind his player in public regardless of the criticism and mentioned that the entire team was to blame for the defeats and not just one individual player.

What Mccullam and Aqib did in the previous seasons was thoroughly unprofessional and certainly unbecoming of someone with Mccullam's stature and he was rightfully shown the door by LQ for just being pure hype and nothing else.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

So one good inning and all are jumping the gun.
Don't be fooled by one good inning.
Just wait and see

 

[Indiafan]

Poor Umar always being targeted

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Umar playing under Sarfraz is a blessing for Umar.

Akmal type players thrive under Sarfraz.

Players like Umar need consistent guidance and someone who believe in them, who can take the best out from them.

What made u conclude that, who are the other akmal type players has thrived under Sarfraz.

Iknow you are Sarfi Fan but how can he thrive under Sarfraz and what did u expet sarfraz to do make him thrive...

If anyone UA has to blame for his career regression, is himself... Same applies to Ahmed Shehzad, PCB invested in them for a long term, had they put their head down and kept improving then one of them would have been the captain of Pakistan by now leading their team into the 2019 CWC, but they had other plans ..

Just like Imam and Masood showing that hunger to improve and that temperament is required in international cricket apart from talent.

UA and AS are the prime examples to the cricketing world that talent alone cannot make you a LEGEND

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

What made u conclude that, who are the other akmal type players has thrived under Sarfraz.

Iknow you are Sarfi Fan but how can he thrive under Sarfraz and what did u expet sarfraz to do make him thrive...

If anyone UA has to blame for his career regression, is himself... Same applies to Ahmed Shehzad, PCB invested in them for a long term, had they put their head down and kept improving then one of them would have been the captain of Pakistan by now leading their team into the 2019 CWC, but they had other plans ..

Just like Imam and Masood showing that hunger to improve and that temperament is required in international cricket apart from talent.

UA and AS are the prime examples to the cricketing world that talent alone cannot make you a LEGEND

I thought i already wrote a long reply on this but seems i forgot hitting post button :/

I dont have the energy to write everything again but few things are that players like Akmal thrive under those who make them feel as quality players and make them believe in themselve. Akmal is a a difficult character to handle but he has played under Sarfraz before too and Sarfraz knows how to handle him and get the best out of him.

Akmal became the villain no 1 of Pakistan cricket last season and there was a chance he woulnt have been picked by any team this season but Sarfraz and Quetta showed faith in him and now he is producing the reults. Quetta owner Nadeem Omar, coaches and manager Nabeel Hashmi also deserved credit to give another shot to Umar.

 

[Savak]

LQ struggling for 4 seasons in a row, even the over rated Brendon Mccullam couldn't help them for two seasons. Umar Akmal was their best performer in the first season. The LQ team management started to scapegoat Umar Akmal very early in the third season by blaming him publically and end result was the player losing confidence at the end.

 

[King Khan]

I'm sorry, but LQ did handle him properly and any blame cast on him was justified. He needed the kick up the back to bring him off his high horse.

This "hurt his confidence" is a cop-out as his ego was sky high at that time and thought he was untouchable, both in the national team and in the Lahore team.

Lahore are big enough to carry on without him as no player is bigger than the team.

I'm glad hes not showing his primadonna side this season to Quetta's benefit, but to say LQ made a mistake is excusing U Akmal for his gross unprofessionalism

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

Cricket is a game of confidence. When assembling a franchise together one needs to be careful about what kind of players you are adding. You need players who have trust in their abilities to finish the game, even if it means taking the games to last overs. Umar Akmal has that confidence, however, every year LQ assembles a squad that consists of players who are either too confident in their abilities and start hitting the ball from the word go or they select players who do not have any trust (or experience) in their finishing abilities so they start hitting out from the get go (knowing fully well that they can’t finish the game if the required RR is 12-13 in the last 4-5 overs). If Umar Akmal had a partner like AB on the other end in the first 3 seasons, sky would have been the limit for LQ.

 

[Chokli]

So one good inning and all are jumping the gun.
Don't be fooled by one good inning.
Just wait and see

he's playing good innings after good innings

 

[imranq]

Good to see him performing well for Quetta but no regrets for Lahore getting rid of him.

 

[mak36]

People are overlooking the impact the recent passing of his mum has had on him. Seems to have matured(!) because of it.

 

[Adijazz1706]

Seeing LQ pick up Salman Butt reinforces the fact that they are managed by fools, Umar Akmal is in a better place now and hopefully he has a great PSL and earns a recall to the LOI squads. He's much better than the likes of Asif and Talat

 

[Savak]

I'm sorry, but LQ did handle him properly and any blame cast on him was justified. He needed the kick up the back to bring him off his high horse.

This "hurt his confidence" is a cop-out as his ego was sky high at that time and thought he was untouchable, both in the national team and in the Lahore team.

Lahore are big enough to carry on without him as no player is bigger than the team.

I'm glad hes not showing his primadonna side this season to Quetta's benefit, but to say LQ made a mistake is excusing U Akmal for his gross unprofessionalism

Nope LQ did not handle him properly, he was their star performer in Season 1, he performed reasonably well in Season 2, in Season 3 they completely abandoned him, scapegoated him and left him high and dry but in all Seasons they have finished last and they are staring at the same fortune for a fourth season in a row. Not even the likes of Chris Gayle, Brendon Mccullam and now ABD are looking capable of turning around their fortunes.

Abandoning and scapegoating, humiliating your key player in public and scapegoating him for the team's disasterous in the middle of a tournament is looserish unprofessionalism of the highest order. Brendon Mccullam thought he could deflect the blame from himself by taking full advantage of being a **** and that whatever he said in public would be treated like gospel against a local player.

Umar Akmal is now in a better place with a more supportive, caring team management in Quetta Gladiators while LQ is now sitting at the bottom of the barrel yet again while that loser Aqib still succeeds in holding onto to the coaching position laughing his way to the bank. The sooner Fawad Rana takes his emotional glasses off and starts taking tough decisions for the franchise, the better the fortunes of the franchise will be.

 

[CricFan2012]

You can't possibly be defending Umar Akmal. As incompetent as Aqib is, Umar Akmal isn't going through a bad patch. This is how he is. He should NEVER be selected for Pakistan or in PSL.

Views now mate?