Let's be honest: Every Pakistan coach gets sacked because Umar Akmal is excluded

[Junaids]

I'm going to tell an absolutely brutal home truth here.

Pakistan's batting has been rubbish since the late 1970's. If they are lucky they have 1 international class batsman at a time.

The bottom line is this. Pakistan's only world class batsman is Babar Azam, and the only other international class batsman is Umar Akmal.

The guy who was Man of the Match in the last QEA Final.

The guy who averaged 38.42 in 15 Tests outside Asia in a 16 Test career.

All the other batsmen are at best rubbish Flat Track Bullies. Watching Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman fail to survive mediocre short-pitched bowling in South Africa seven months ago was a horrifying example of this.

And to be honest, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq were both Flat Track Bullies for the last few years. Even in England and Australia/New Zealand and South Africa, Younis made 1 big innings per series and looked like a tailender the rest of the time.

And in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Misbah couldn't even match Younis Khan's 1 decent innings per series. Misbah specialized in delivering ZERO decent innings per away series, except against weak opposition like the West Indies and England.

Yes, Umar Akmal is an indisciplined fool. Then again, he hasn't played a Test match since the age of 21, so whose fault is that?

Umar Akmal only ever played 16 Test matches: 1 in Dubai and 15 outside Asia. No other Pakistani in modern times has a record outside Asia anything like as good as Umar Akmal does.

Yet series after series, year after year Pakistan go into away series with a batting lineup packed with compliant nobodies because they refuse to pick their second best batsman because he is annoying and behaves in a disappointing way.

And so they draw series they should win (England 2016 and 2018) and lose series they should not lose (New Zealand 2016-7, Australia 2016-7, South Africa 2018-9).

Every single Pakistan coach for the last 8 years has lost his job because his team didn't score enough runs because the second best batsman was blacklisted.

We can create other excuses.

Yes, Mickey Arthur didn't pick enough spinners in the UAE. But his South Africa team beat Inzamam's Pakistan in Pakistan with a team packed with pace bowlers. The reality is that Pakistan lost in the UAE to Sri Lanka and New Zealand because..........the inferior batsmen who were selected instead of Umar Akmal because they behave better didn't score enough runs.

A new coach is coming now......but so is a new Chief Selector.

It was Misbah who sacrificed Umar Akmal's career to give himself 6 years of Test cricket as an old man. It was Misbah who blocked Umar's cousin Babar Azam's rise into the Test team for 3 years to extend his own career.

Pakistan stands at a crossroads now. A new coach and Chief Selector can improve the team's results by including the country's second best batsman.

Or they can keep excluding him and keep losing.

The choice is that simple.

 

[Junaids]

I'd actually go further.

What Steve Smith and David Warner did was far worse than anything that Umar Akmal has ever been found guilty of doing.

And they were both recalled at the first possible moment.

Pakistan aren't going to improve how they perform outside Asia if they keep refusing to pick their second best batsman.

 

[Markhor]

Here we go again.

 

[zain7077]

So is Haris Sohail not international class?

 

[Ram Shekhar]

I actually agree with the OP. Umar is possibly the most talented strokemaker Pakistan had in years. I remember how he was turned into a slogger at #6 which I think is the reason for his troubles. He should have been slotted at #4 to begin with in both tests and ODIs. He's still young and should be the new #5 in tests and #4 in ODIs and T20s. The new Pakistan test line up should be

Shan
Fakhar/Imam
Azhar
Babar
Umar
Haris
Sarfraz/Rizwan
Shadab
Hasnain/Yasir
Naseem
Shaheen

Reserves - Yasir, Imam, Abid Ali, Hammad Azam

Haris and Fakhar can bowl excellent left arm spin and can be considered spin bowling all rounders

 

[saeed5646]

Wasn't expecting such a thread from quality poster like junaid .Umar akmal is enemy of himself he doesn't need other person to harm him .
For God's sake this is 2019 not 2011 we should move on from him

 

[Shazzam]

If we drop Fakhar Zaman we could try Umar Akmal as a opener. He will do well.

 

[silentkiller187]

what has Umar done tho when given the chance, lets take the nostalgic tinted glassesof, the guy is a waste of space and has many chances to prove himself, just like his brother before him, now he is some sort of messiah, we do not need this type in the dressing room, results may have slowed down but the transition into a more professional dressing room is already in motion an we will see the rewards soon.

 

[IMMY69]

I didn’t even read the OP but I fear age has now caught up on him.
No not On Akmal but the OP.

I’m not far behind

 

[Sir-fraz]

Junaids has been smoking too much ganja lately.

umar's career is done, unless somehow overnight his IQ raises by like 100 hes not coming back anytime soon

 

[Rellu_Katta]

An extremely misleading thread of "Umar Akmal" being the great of pak test of recent past.

a few stats,
Avg vs Aus - 25
Avg vs SA - 4
Avg vs Eng - 30
Avg vs NZ - 61
Avg vs WI - 41
Avg vs Zim - 15

so apart from NZ, where the stats were boasted by tht 1 test, and somewhat WI, nothing at all to talk about...
and to top that... had abs no work ethics, passion for the game, commitment to the game and temprament to play any long innings.

and on to of that, one of the worse attitudes (remember when he faked injury to get his brother in the team) , no fitness , off the field serious issues...

and we want him back in the team.... ?

 

[warcry]

every pakistani coach gets sacked because they refused to pick fawad alam for tests.

they stuck with mediocre batsmen such as asad shafiq and haris sohail, good for scoring soft runs.

now, to be be fair, haris sohail cored important runs in odi world cup, and on the base of that, could be given the australia series to prove his worth, but thats it.

watch whoever gets picked as coach and selector will be pick over the hill 'seniors' such as azhar ali and shafiq, who will lose us the series in australia, before hopefully being discarded for good.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Didn’t read anything. Saw the title and came here to post this

 

[Markhor]

Umar Akmal couldn't score that 218 Younis Khan hit at The Oval in five lifetimes.

 

[Khan12]

every pakistani coach gets sacked because they refused to pick fawad alam for tests.

they stuck with mediocre batsmen such as asad shafiq and haris sohail, good for scoring soft runs.

now, to be be fair, haris sohail cored important runs in odi world cup, and on the base of that, could be given the australia series to prove his worth, but thats it.

watch whoever gets picked as coach and selector will be pick over the hill 'seniors' such as azhar ali and shafiq, who will lose us the series in australia, before hopefully being discarded for good.

Haris is million times the player fawad alam could ever be.

 

[Junaids]

Umar Akmal couldn't score that 218 Younis Khan hit at The Oval in five lifetimes.

Younis Khan failed:

5 times out of 6 in South Africa in 2012-13.

6 times out of 7 in England in 2016.

8 times out of 10 in Australia and New Zealand in 2016-17.

Younis failed 19 times in 23 innings on those tours.

Misbah failed 18 times out of 21 on the same tours.

Umar Akmal couldn’t have done that either.

 

[USofA]

What I would like to know is, does he still drink a lot of water?

 

[CricketDon]

Umar Akmal is the second best batsman in Pakistan behind babar. It’s a hard pill for these guys to swallow

 

[Mirpur express]

Don’t know if I should or
@ U Akmal or the thread or the international class player

 

[JaDed]

I actually agree with the OP. Umar is possibly the most talented strokemaker Pakistan had in years. I remember how he was turned into a slogger at #6 which I think is the reason for his troubles. He should have been slotted at #4 to begin with in both tests and ODIs. He's still young and should be the new #5 in tests and #4 in ODIs and T20s. The new Pakistan test line up should be

Shan
Fakhar/Imam
Azhar
Babar
Umar
Haris
Sarfraz/Rizwan
Shadab
Hasnain/Yasir
Naseem
Shaheen

Reserves - Yasir, Imam, Abid Ali, Hammad Azam

Haris and Fakhar can bowl excellent left arm spin and can be considered spin bowling all rounders

Wow you follow PCT upto the reserve level , that is more than many Pakistanis my secular Indian brother.

 

[MMHS]

I'm going to tell an absolutely brutal home truth here.

Pakistan's batting has been rubbish since the late 1970's. If they are lucky they have 1 international class batsman at a time.

The bottom line is this. Pakistan's only world class batsman is Babar Azam, and the only other international class batsman is Umar Akmal.

The guy who was Man of the Match in the last QEA Final.

The guy who averaged 38.42 in 15 Tests outside Asia in a 16 Test career.

All the other batsmen are at best rubbish Flat Track Bullies. Watching Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman fail to survive mediocre short-pitched bowling in South Africa seven months ago was a horrifying example of this.

And to be honest, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq were both Flat Track Bullies for the last few years. Even in England and Australia/New Zealand and South Africa, Younis made 1 big innings per series and looked like a tailender the rest of the time.

And in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Misbah couldn't even match Younis Khan's 1 decent innings per series. Misbah specialized in delivering ZERO decent innings per away series, except against weak opposition like the West Indies and England.

Yes, Umar Akmal is an indisciplined fool. Then again, he hasn't played a Test match since the age of 21, so whose fault is that?

Umar Akmal only ever played 16 Test matches: 1 in Dubai and 15 outside Asia. No other Pakistani in modern times has a record outside Asia anything like as good as Umar Akmal does.

Yet series after series, year after year Pakistan go into away series with a batting lineup packed with compliant nobodies because they refuse to pick their second best batsman because he is annoying and behaves in a disappointing way.

And so they draw series they should win (England 2016 and 2018) and lose series they should not lose (New Zealand 2016-7, Australia 2016-7, South Africa 2018-9).

Every single Pakistan coach for the last 8 years has lost his job because his team didn't score enough runs because the second best batsman was blacklisted.

We can create other excuses.

Yes, Mickey Arthur didn't pick enough spinners in the UAE. But his South Africa team beat Inzamam's Pakistan in Pakistan with a team packed with pace bowlers. The reality is that Pakistan lost in the UAE to Sri Lanka and New Zealand because..........the inferior batsmen who were selected instead of Umar Akmal because they behave better didn't score enough runs.

A new coach is coming now......but so is a new Chief Selector.

It was Misbah who sacrificed Umar Akmal's career to give himself 6 years of Test cricket as an old man. It was Misbah who blocked Umar's cousin Babar Azam's rise into the Test team for 3 years to extend his own career.

Pakistan stands at a crossroads now. A new coach and Chief Selector can improve the team's results by including the country's second best batsman.

Or they can keep excluding him and keep losing.

The choice is that simple.

Umar was definitely hard done by PCT management, starting from Misbah. And, he didn't deserve to be dropped at the age of U21 with 16 Tests and 999 runs (@36/66), while he should have been a PAK regular for T20 all-through, may be ODI as well.

But, it's really too much to stress that he could have saved the jobs of PAK Coaches, more precisely Mickey Arthur.

First of all, Arthur was sacked not because of performance only, rather PCB management wanted a change, and there is a massive pressure from PAK former players for a local coach - which will end in tears, but we can sacrifice two years to prove something that about 12 stints under Javed, Waqaur, Mohsin, Aquib couldn't prove. Otherwise, in current context, I don't think PCB will find a coach remotely close to the calibre of Arthur.

Having said that, Arthur himself contributed lot in his demise - he was too stubborn to adopt Asian game, he was too rigid with his tactics/combination regardless of condition or availability (of player pool to fit his tactics) and he decided not to learn from mistake. Final nail in his coffin was that he decided to compromise on selection issues, fitness issues, Captaincy issues - eventually that sidelined him behind Inzi & Sarfraz, he became a trainer rather than a Manager.

Coming to the examples that you gave - no, Umar Akmal won't have changed any thing, not a single Test result, in fact he could have cost more. PAK lost 4 out of 5 Test in UAE (NZ, SRL) because and ONLY Because playing XI didn't have enough spinners. I won't bother to explain you what a couple of genuine spinners (yes, batting at 10 & 11) can offer in Asian Tests, but let's focus on other areas. Umar Akmal would have been bigger flop in UAE Tests, because he is just not that type of batsman who can spend 6 hours in middle to reach 100 - most cases he would have scored quick fire 20s & 30s, before holding out, or being stumped; now please don't tell me that 20s & 30s were enough because PAK lost to SRL by 19 runs and to NZ by 5 runs; that little I know, but it doesn't work that way. PAK was short of one, some times two spinners in UAE, which cost them at least 3 Tests (out of 4 that they lost). If you analyze the 1st Test between PAK-AUS, there was enough runs (without Umar Akmal) for the bowlers to pick 10 wickets in 140 overs - a SLAO Spinner would have won that Test by Tea on day 5. So, it's not Umar actually - Mickey is almost alone responsible for those two series losses and he should have faced incompetence charges for fielding 3 pacers in 2nd Test (SRL), after the experience of 1st Test.

Coming to SAF Series - may be Umar individually could have scored lot more than Fakhar (not a big deal to replace a hack with single digit scores to be honest - even Sarfraz out performed Fakhar, FGS!!!), but the magnitude of the losses were so much that it won't have mattered anything at the end regarding series result. Also, PAK picked pacers by numbers, not by quality or combination - Abbas had a poor series (he wasn't fit) and apart from Amir, no other pacer were effective.

I would rather say opposite - only three stars in Arthur's resume (for Test cricket), were the ENG Series 2016, 2018 and the WIN Series - Misbah was MoS in first one, (& YK playing the innings of the series in decider) was instrumental with bat in WIN and the last Lord's Test was won by couple of gutsy innings, which is always beyond Umar's capacity. I would rather say opposite - had Umar Akmal played all 9 Tests, it was more likely that PAK would have lost more than 4 Tests that they lost. You are forgetting the fact that, an attacking batsman like Umar Akmal is an asset for a top Test team to enforce the win, not for a ranked 7th team, whose main effort is to avoid a defeat - and Arthur has to take major chunk of responsibility for this free fall of PCT, from No. 1 position as late as OCT 2016, most of what was achieved by a PCT managed by WY.

In contrast, what kept Arthur in job for one extra year was PCT's win in CT - a tournament where he almost forcefully dropped Umar Akmal, that eventually kept him in job till 2019 WC. I am a fan of Umar Akmal, do agree that he was hard done by and do feel that PCT will be a better team with Umar in XI, may be as WK-batsman as well in T20s - BUT, what you have written here is simply absurd - Umar Akmal is too ordinary to be praised like this.

 

[aloo paratha]

I actually agree with the OP.

Obviously you do, you're Indian, you want us to lose every game

 

[cricketAXEpert]

I'm going to tell an absolutely brutal home truth here.

Pakistan's batting has been rubbish since the late 1970's. If they are lucky they have 1 international class batsman at a time.

The bottom line is this. Pakistan's only world class batsman is Babar Azam, and the only other international class batsman is Umar Akmal.

The guy who was Man of the Match in the last QEA Final.

The guy who averaged 38.42 in 15 Tests outside Asia in a 16 Test career.

All the other batsmen are at best rubbish Flat Track Bullies. Watching Azhar Ali and Fakhar Zaman fail to survive mediocre short-pitched bowling in South Africa seven months ago was a horrifying example of this.

And to be honest, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq were both Flat Track Bullies for the last few years. Even in England and Australia/New Zealand and South Africa, Younis made 1 big innings per series and looked like a tailender the rest of the time.

And in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Misbah couldn't even match Younis Khan's 1 decent innings per series. Misbah specialized in delivering ZERO decent innings per away series, except against weak opposition like the West Indies and England.

Yes, Umar Akmal is an indisciplined fool. Then again, he hasn't played a Test match since the age of 21, so whose fault is that?

Umar Akmal only ever played 16 Test matches: 1 in Dubai and 15 outside Asia. No other Pakistani in modern times has a record outside Asia anything like as good as Umar Akmal does.

Yet series after series, year after year Pakistan go into away series with a batting lineup packed with compliant nobodies because they refuse to pick their second best batsman because he is annoying and behaves in a disappointing way.

And so they draw series they should win (England 2016 and 2018) and lose series they should not lose (New Zealand 2016-7, Australia 2016-7, South Africa 2018-9).

Every single Pakistan coach for the last 8 years has lost his job because his team didn't score enough runs because the second best batsman was blacklisted.

We can create other excuses.

Yes, Mickey Arthur didn't pick enough spinners in the UAE. But his South Africa team beat Inzamam's Pakistan in Pakistan with a team packed with pace bowlers. The reality is that Pakistan lost in the UAE to Sri Lanka and New Zealand because..........the inferior batsmen who were selected instead of Umar Akmal because they behave better didn't score enough runs.

A new coach is coming now......but so is a new Chief Selector.

It was Misbah who sacrificed Umar Akmal's career to give himself 6 years of Test cricket as an old man. It was Misbah who blocked Umar's cousin Babar Azam's rise into the Test team for 3 years to extend his own career.

Pakistan stands at a crossroads now. A new coach and Chief Selector can improve the team's results by including the country's second best batsman.

Or they can keep excluding him and keep losing.

The choice is that simple.

Pakistan's batting was very good in 80s, it was in the 90s the decline began. There is little in this post that I agree with.
But I will take Umar Akmal over Asad Shafiq or Shan Masood.

Younis Khan has won dozens of test matches for Pakistan. While Shan Masood has won only 1 Test match (that too in a secondary role to YK). But Asad Shafiq has never won a Test Match. It was not YK who plays 1 innings per series, But Asad Shafiq who without fail plays 1 innings that saves his own spot, but that innings is either in a loosing match or inconsequential altogether.
Atleast Asad Shafiq has a decent average compared to Shan Masood. Shan Masood had a good series in South Africa. But it was the weakest South Africa has ever been, even an inexperienced Sri lanka beat them.
Shan is in the side because of his Father (everyone know that).

So what worse Umar Akmal can do?
Test batting line up

Abid ali
Imam
Azhar Ali
Harris Sohail
Babar Azam
Saud Shakeel / Umar Akmal (or any other new upcoming batsman)
Mohd Rizwan (wicketkeeper Batsman)

plus the 4 bowlers

 

[Ram Shekhar]

Obviously you do, you're Indian, you want us to lose every game

Haha good one brother. But I believe a strong Pakistan team is good for world cricket. The team that I wrote down can potentially compete against the best teams.

 

[Ram Shekhar]

Wow you follow PCT upto the reserve level , that is more than many Pakistanis my secular Indian brother.

Any person who follows cricket knows all these names. Even you know, my communal Indian brother. And yes, I'm indeed a Pakistan team fan like many Indians who secretly follow PCT because right wing morons otherwise can even lynch them. Now what, will you ask me to go to Pakistan?

 

[Markhor]

Younis Khan failed:

5 times out of 6 in South Africa in 2012-13.

6 times out of 7 in England in 2016.

8 times out of 10 in Australia and New Zealand in 2016-17.

Younis failed 19 times in 23 innings on those tours.

Misbah failed 18 times out of 21 on the same tours.

Umar Akmal couldn’t have done that either.

Dr saab can you answer how many domestic FC hundreds Umar Akmal scored in each season after his dropping from Tests in 2011 ?

 

[Suleiman]

Insane logic. Bigger finding than the first image of the black hole months ago.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Akmal can hardly play 50 balls in ODIs these days and OP wants him to play tests?

 

[JaDed]

Any person who follows cricket knows all these names. Even you know, my communal Indian brother. And yes, I'm indeed a Pakistan team fan like many Indians who secretly follow PCT because right wing morons otherwise can even lynch them. Now what, will you ask me to go to Pakistan?

No ,but I’m hoping you catch up on Indian reserves and learn to spell correct names of Indian states, newspapers and dress code of right wing which you mention.

And if you don’t I hope you won’t mind all Indians quoting you when you slip up on your virtual Indian citizenship.

 

[StreetSmart]

First I thought OP was sarcastic then by the end of this article I relaized maybe he is going through depression. Bhai we have no issues with UA, he cannot sort out his own problems.

 

[big_gamer007]

I'd actually go further.

What Steve Smith and David Warner did was far worse than anything that Umar Akmal has ever been found guilty of doing.

And they were both recalled at the first possible moment.

Pakistan aren't going to improve how they perform outside Asia if they keep refusing to pick their second best batsman.

I agree with this point. Umar was indisciplined but he was not a cheat.

I have always been in favour of Akmal in team. He has his issues but Pakistan rarely produces any decent batsmen. The best Pakistani batsmen like inzi, Yk, Javed won't feature in top 30 best batsmen of all time (Javed might sneak in because of glorification of past), which concludes one thing: Pakistan don't know how to nurture batsmen and convert them into world class.

Akmal is a classic case of talent lost for various reasons (most of the reasons are because of Akmal himself)

 

[Hasan123]

OP has theories and if you don’t agree with them he will name call that player, pundit , or coach.

We are a poor test team and that teams that Juanids fantasies about selecting won’t improve Pakistan.

 

[Slog]

Umar Akmal cannot hold a spot in the SNGPL team and falls out with coaches in it as well. Also for a whole five year period he made one century in first class

 

[IMMY69]

Umar Akmal cannot hold a spot in the SNGPL team and falls out with coaches in it as well. Also for a whole five year period he made one century in first class

So what you saying?
May be making him captain will bring the best out of him...

 

[zulfiqar]

I obviously don't know the details, but I want to share my thoughts:

The benefit of a few more runs/innings is not worth the harm that comes from a disrupting influence in the dressing room. This is a fact. When 3 people are selected for an interview at an organization, they already have the skills necessary to perform the job - that is the reason they are at the interview. But the interview is used to screen their personality and attitude to see if they would be a good teamplayer.

My assumption is that Umar Akmal fails miserably at that last step. His antics both on & off the field (which I don't have to list) are too disruptive and affect the team as a whole. Your professionalism is also a part of what you bring to the team, and if he can improve that I'm sure any captain/coach/selector would love to give him a shot.

 

[topspin]

After Babar and Haris, Umar Akmal is the 3rd best red ball batsman in the side. He’s had a good QeA and it would be unjust for him to be excluded in favour of Shafiq and etc.

Misbah made a huge mistake backing Shafiq over Umar Akmal and to this day this decision continues to cost us dearly. If the failed ex-Pakistan captain does end up landing the Head Coach, Shafiq will be in luck and might get the chance to finish his career with 100 tests at an average of 30-35.

Following the whitewash in SA and failure to beat a very poor Zimbabwe side (six years ago), the ideal scenario for Pakistan was to let Misbah go in 2013 and replace him with Fawad Alam. Younis Khan should have taken over as captain and Umar Akmal should have returned at the expense of Shafiq. If Pakistan was led by a more competent cricketing mind and overall possessed a better batting line-up, our away results from 2014 would have been a lot more respectable.

 

[Sarfarazian92]

Akhrot hai tu bhai

 

[Slog]

Akhrot hai tu bhai

Ajkal sirf monthly appearances kyun?

 

[Slog]

I'd actually go further.

What Steve Smith and David Warner did was far worse than anything that Umar Akmal has ever been found guilty of doing.

And they were both recalled at the first possible moment.

Pakistan aren't going to improve how they perform outside Asia if they keep refusing to pick their second best batsman.

Umar Akmal was dropped due to performance and not off field issues. Off field issues made it worse but the primary reason for being cast aside was non existent performances.

Do not try to change the narrative. There is no comparison between Smith/Warner and Umar Akmal.

 

[Rana]

I obviously don't know the details, but I want to share my thoughts:

The benefit of a few more runs/innings is not worth the harm that comes from a disrupting influence in the dressing room. This is a fact. When 3 people are selected for an interview at an organization, they already have the skills necessary to perform the job - that is the reason they are at the interview. But the interview is used to screen their personality and attitude to see if they would be a good teamplayer.

My assumption is that Umar Akmal fails miserably at that last step. His antics both on & off the field (which I don't have to list) are too disruptive and affect the team as a whole. Your professionalism is also a part of what you bring to the team, and if he can improve that I'm sure any captain/coach/selector would love to give him a shot.

POTW

This post is bang on! Even though I agree with OP.

 

[Sarfarazian92]

Ajkal sirf monthly appearances kyun?

haha sir bohot time se internships/recruiting mein masroof tha. kuch hafte pehle hi fursat mili hai is sab se.

Koi series start ho Pakistan ki tou inshallah daily appearance milegi apko lol

 

[pratiktc]

Please let us close the chapter on this embarrassing cricketer.
Certainly team leaders and mgmt in 2010-12 period were responsible for not being able to utilise or channel Umar's talent to some extent.

But Umar's biggest enemy is himself. He has proved again and again he is pig headed, selfish, arrogant and lazy.

Inshallah maybe he will mature in 10-15 yrs and might do some good for the game as coach/umpire/TV analyst/etc. Till then his only value is as live example for youngsters of what not to do

 

[Shazzam]

After Babar and Haris, Umar Akmal is the 3rd best red ball batsman in the side. He’s had a good QeA and it would be unjust for him to be excluded in favour of Shafiq and etc.

Misbah made a huge mistake backing Shafiq over Umar Akmal and to this day this decision continues to cost us dearly. If the failed ex-Pakistan captain does end up landing the Head Coach, Shafiq will be in luck and might get the chance to finish his career with 100 tests at an average of 30-35.

Following the whitewash in SA and failure to beat a very poor Zimbabwe side (six years ago), the ideal scenario for Pakistan was to let Misbah go in 2013 and replace him with Fawad Alam. Younis Khan should have taken over as captain and Umar Akmal should have returned at the expense of Shafiq. If Pakistan was led by a more competent cricketing mind and overall possessed a better batting line-up, our away results from 2014 would have been a lot more respectable.

Ok look you can blame Misbah all you want but in Umar Akmal’s chase I felt he got enough chances to prove himself. He was a great stroke maker just not a great cricketing mind. The dude had the talent just not the brains. His attitude was terrible, the guy thought he made it and thats it. You just can’t blame other things when the guy himself should be blamed.

 

[Junaids]

Umar Akmal cannot hold a spot in the SNGPL team and falls out with coaches in it as well. Also for a whole five year period he made one century in first class

Supposedly the route back to Test Cricket for Umar Akmal is QEA First Class runs.

He won the Man of the Match award in the last QEA Final.

I repeat, in South Africa an attack of Has Beens and Nobodies bounced Pakistan out.

The people whom you pick instead of Umar Akmal are just massively inferior batsmen to him.

It’s a complete joke.

 

[Nasty Naz]

Umar Akmal is 29 years old and has been declining for years. He's not going to get better, just give it up people.

He is what he is at this point. Which is a very inconsistent underachiever who once in a blue moon will have a great game but mostly its just mediocre performances. He even had a chance to stand out in the series vs Australia recently and he still couldn't do anything of importance.

It's time to give up on players like these and invest in younger ones who haven't hit or surpassed their peak yet in Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel etc...

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Supposedly the route back to Test Cricket for Umar Akmal is QEA First Class runs.

He won the Man of the Match award in the last QEA Final.

I repeat, in South Africa an attack of Has Beens and Nobodies bounced Pakistan out.

The people whom you pick instead of Umar Akmal are just massively inferior batsmen to him.

It’s a complete joke.

Why pick Umar when we have other batsmen with better Test records? Why not pick Usman Saluhiddin, Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel?

 

[Junaids]

Why pick Umar when we have other batsmen with better Test records? Why not pick Usman Saluhiddin, Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel?

There are no Pakistan batsmen with better Test records outside Asia than Umar Akmal since his debut.

Not Younis.

Not Azhar Ali.

Not Misbah.

Not Shafiq.

They all scored less than 20 more often than him, and they all scored over 40 less often.

 

[zain7077]

There are no Pakistan batsmen with better Test records outside Asia than Umar Akmal since his debut.

Not Younis.

Not Azhar Ali.

Not Misbah.

Not Shafiq.

They all scored less than 20 more often than him, and they all scored over 40 less often.

What are your honest thoughts on Haris Sohail?

 

[Junaids]

What are your honest thoughts on Haris Sohail?

OK - he’d be in my Test Team for Brisbane and Adelaide.

1. Shan Masood (c)
2. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
3. Haris Sohail
4. Babar Azam
5. Asad Shafiq (one year only to minimise transitions)
6. Umar Akmal
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Mohammad Amir (outside Asia Specialist)
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Mohammad Abbas

That’s the best team I can put out in bouncy conditions.

 

[Haripotter]

In this era where we could have witnessed fab 5 , a raw talent was unfairly disqualified from the race.

Need a referendum to bring umar akmal back for the sake of glory of cricket

 

[silentkiller187]

OK - he’d be in my Test Team for Brisbane and Adelaide.

1. Shan Masood (c)
2. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
3. Haris Sohail
4. Babar Azam
5. Asad Shafiq (one year only to minimise transitions)
6. Umar Akmal
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Mohammad Amir (outside Asia Specialist)
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Mohammad Abbas

That’s the best team I can put out in bouncy conditions.

Rizwan opening? Azhar Ali will be needed whether we like him or not, his technique will be far betetr than rizwaan or even shaan

 

[Junaids]

Rizwan opening? Azhar Ali will be needed whether we like him or not, his technique will be far betetr than rizwaan or even shaan

Rizwan can’t play spin so opening is ideal for him.

Azhar Ali is unselectable. He has failed to reach 20 in 58% of his Test innings outside Asia through his career, Which is bad enough.

But in his 10 Test innings outside Asia since Misbah and Younis retired, he has only reached a score of 20 or more once.

In other words, Azhar Ali’s failure rate outside Asia has gone up from 58% to 90%.

He is unselectable.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Will Misbah select U Akmal?

 

[Nikhil_cric]

The man, the myth , the legend . Let's be honest though - Pak need both Salman butt and Umar Akmal for the tour to Australia. Hopefully Misbah won't lose his job for not having those two

 

[MMHS]

The man, the myth , the legend . Let's be honest though - Pak need both Salman butt and Umar Akmal for the tour to Australia. Hopefully Misbah won't lose his job for not having those two

And, Mo Asif - you missed one. Still should be good for 12 overs with new ball - that will be enough to reduce AUS to 72-6 by lunch.

 

[Rana]

Misbah may work with him because he’s probably a father figure to him but Waqar Younis will be the stumbling block. Not sure how the 2 will share the same bus to the ground

 

[Abdullah719]

Umar Akmal will not be selected even if he hits 1000 runs in the QEA Trophy, with that physique.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

And, Mo Asif - you missed one. Still should be good for 12 overs with new ball - that will be enough to reduce AUS to 72-6 by lunch.

Yep. Asif as well. Although with the emergence of 6'6" Arshad Iqbal and 6'8" Shaur Ahmed, I think Asif might be too short to succeed in Australia.

 

[Red Devil]

Easy solution, make Umar Akmal a player as well as the head coach of this team.

 

[Last Monetarist]

And, Mo Asif - you missed one. Still should be good for 12 overs with new ball - that will be enough to reduce AUS to 72-6 by lunch.

You may trifle, but you do realize that Asif will wreak havoc with the pink ball under lights at Adelaide. Ideally, Pakistan bat first and declare at 200-6 half an hour before dinner, in order to give their bowlers a crack at the Australians at dusk.

 

[hitthestump]

Following the decline of Fakhar there is an open slot for a hard hitting opener, and given the overall state of Pakistan's batting we certainly can't be choosy.

Instead of ridiculing Umar for being an idiot (which he is) has the PCB tried fully focusing on supporting Umar? There is clearly potential to be unlocked but he's too stupid to do it himself. The PCB should assign him a dedicated mentor and lay out a clear plan for his return to international cricket.

Regarding a mentor, is there anyone out there who can get something out of one of the only true batting talents in the country??

 

[Junaids]

You may trifle, but you do realize that Asif will wreak havoc with the pink ball under lights at Adelaide. Ideally, Pakistan bat first and declare at 200-6 half an hour before dinner, in order to give their bowlers a crack at the Australians at dusk.

People make fun of me, but this is precisely correct.

You bat first at Adelaide and make sure that you score quicker than a Misbah team, because you need to declare after 50 overs, half an hour before dinner.

You might sink to 60-3 at the first break - Tea - but that doesn’t matter, because you need Babar Azam and Umar Akmal to attack in the remaining 25 overs to get to 200-6 declared.

You then have the first 20 overs against the Aussie batsmen under lights as the light changes.

And you want Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to bowl all 20 of those overs either side of dinner, to reduce Australia to 50-6.

The last four wickets survive ten overs to limp to 75 all out, and Pakistan start Day 2 on 20-0, a lead of 145.

They then repeat the process, declaring at 200-6 after 50 overs, and Australia have to bat again in the twilight, chasing 325 to win.

It’s precisely how to win a Day/Night Test at Adelaide. And I have been there for every Day/Night Test it has ever hosted.

But instead Misbah will pick Sarfraz instead of Rizwan and Yasir Shah will play for no good reason, and they will be slaughtered.

 

[Slog]

People make fun of me, but this is precisely correct.

You bat first at Adelaide and make sure that you score quicker than a Misbah team, because you need to declare after 50 overs, half an hour before dinner.

You might sink to 60-3 at the first break - Tea - but that doesn’t matter, because you need Babar Azam and Umar Akmal to attack in the remaining 25 overs to get to 200-6 declared.

You then have the first 20 overs against the Aussie batsmen under lights as the light changes.

And you want Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to bowl all 20 of those overs either side of dinner, to reduce Australia to 50-6.

The last four wickets survive ten overs to limp to 75 all out, and Pakistan start Day 2 on 20-0, a lead of 145.

They then repeat the process, declaring at 200-6 after 50 overs, and Australia have to bat again in the twilight, chasing 325 to win.

It’s precisely how to win a Day/Night Test at Adelaide. And I have been there for every Day/Night Test it has ever hosted.

But instead Misbah will pick Sarfraz instead of Rizwan and Yasir Shah will play for no good reason, and they will be slaughtered.

I love how in your world a players ability never declines and they are at peak performance regardless of age. To top it all off this is despite all evidence and domestic performances indicating that they are no longer anywhere near their peak days

 

[Junaids]

I love how in your world a players ability never declines and they are at peak performance regardless of age. To top it all off this is despite all evidence and domestic performances indicating that they are no longer anywhere near their peak days

I am the person who wants a cap of one batsman over 30 in the team.

Umar Akmal was MoM in the last QEA Final.

Amir has brilliant Test figures outside Asia for the last 18 months.

Asif would be a Horses for Courses choice to bowl the Pink Ball at Adelaide on a greentop.

These are not really controversial statements, are they?

 

[Slog]

I am the person who wants a cap of one batsman over 30 in the team.

Umar Akmal was MoM in the last QEA Final.

Amir has brilliant Test figures outside Asia for the last 18 months.

Asif would be a Horses for Courses choice to bowl the Pink Ball at Adelaide on a greentop.

These are not really controversial statements, are they?

Asif is done for and his domestic stats prove that

Umar Akmal has one bit FC performance in the last year

 

[ads101]

I am the person who wants a cap of one batsman over 30 in the team.

Umar Akmal was MoM in the last QEA Final.

Amir has brilliant Test figures outside Asia for the last 18 months.

Asif would be a Horses for Courses choice to bowl the Pink Ball at Adelaide on a greentop.

These are not really controversial statements, are they?

Umar Akmal has changed recently. He's lost weight, he's finally putting up domestic performances. Even tried to limit his social media usage, which I'm sure helps his mental state. He got a call up against australia, but could not cement a place, as Haris, Rizwan and Abid outperformed him. It was tough to secure a place from one series.

I'm sure Umar Akmal will get another chance with the new regime, especially when middle order spots have opened up.

If anything we could be blamed for constantly trying to bring him back/in around the team when he wasn't fit and wasn't scoring in domestic. Should have left him alone till he sorted out his issues, maybe he would have done that years back. Yet every time he was brought back/remaining in the team he'd be hounded on his weight, social media profiles, attitude, lack of performance etc which probably depressed him each time. It's very hard to come back from multiple failures, especially when you haven't played at your best state each time and not given yourself the best possible chance.

Literally every coach we've had has included Umar Akmal at some point in the playing XI, people can see the obvious talent. He's just focused more as an LOI player, partly because of the nature he bats, and his LOI performance in general was better for a longer period of time, he made it to no.10 in the rankings and generally was decent till 2011. Tests on the other hand, his decline in average was much more severe.

If Umar akmal has started performing brilliantly in ODIs again, he would have got back his test spot. Often players are prioritised on one format. For example Azhar got an ODI spot partly because of his consistent performance in tests. He wouldn't have been given one if he was failing in tests. Similar to Shadab for example, he wouldn't have been tried in tests it was only because he did well in ODIs. It was difficult for selectors to give a test spot to umar akmal when they were seeing both a decline in LOI (and in domestic performances).

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Misbah was listening.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Probably wishes he wasn’t listening now.

 

[j_kazmi]

I’d rather have a 100 coaches get sacked one by one, then have this clown play for us again.

 

[adzzy786]

Has anyone seen the OP he’s been missing? Umar Akmal made 2 brilliant scores. He was right all along

 

[badsha001]

on the positive side, he didn't waste any balls unlike selfie boy and the captain who made it worse the longer they stayed on the crease.

 

[aloo paratha]

Maybe Misbah read this thread and that's why he picked Umar

 

[Junaids]

He has faced two deliveries in the whole series.

His output is rubbish, but still, it’s not much of a sample size, is it?

 

[Kroll]

He has faced two deliveries in the whole series.

His output is rubbish, but still, it’s not much of a sample size, is it?

Yep, those pesky Lankans never gave him a chance to get going. Bunch of spoil sports.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

He has faced two deliveries in the whole series.

His output is rubbish, but still, it’s not much of a sample size, is it?

You really believe someone with this low IQ will be able to deliver under tough circumstances? Batting is planning, not just hitting the ball out of the park from ball 1.

 

[Slog]

He has faced two deliveries in the whole series.

His output is rubbish, but still, it’s not much of a sample size, is it?

Yes he should have try balls.

 

[Slog]

I’ve said this many times before and will say it again.

The absolutely special thing about Shehzad and Akmal supporters is that for them failure of their beloved superstars is the reason to give them more chances for them to come good

 

[Mamoon]

People talk a lot about his recklessness, but something that barely gets discussed is how poor he is against spin.

He gets deceived by flight and turn frequently and cannot defend. He plays spin like a young non-Asian batsman on his first tour of Asia.

I think it is a myth that he would have been prolific in UAE Tests. He would probably have been worse than Shafiq.

 

[Danyaalr01]

He has faced two deliveries in the whole series.

His output is rubbish, but still, it’s not much of a sample size, is it?

It's not much of a sample size because he is incapable of creating a large sample size in a single innings because he is bad.

Summary: He is bad, get over him, the world has never seen such a useless player getting a chance over and over again and then keep on failing, then his fans say he is world class and one of the best batsmen in the world and 'a golden duck is not a bad performance because he didn't get to face enough deliveries, that makes Rahat Ali an ATG in batting.

 

[Haripotter]

2 balls sample size is too less to judge a talented batsman. Persist with this big match player and he will come good in T,20 world cup unlike the fast track k bullies from Indian team who fail at the big stages