I avoided the question because with all due respect I find it a bit rich for a Misbah fan to come on here and bash Umar Akmal's ability to play pace bowling.
I hold a high regard for you as a poster however of late, you've offered nothing but vent out how much you despise this one player.
Lets put all the preformed biases aside for a moment and look at this rationally, starting off with asking ourselves this question: who is Umar Akmal competing with for that middle order spot in this mediocre batting line-up?
The last man I would want to take his spot is an old Shoaib Malik, who was never blessed with pace bowling even at his prime and his record in England is woeful to say the least. Furthermore, he doesn't have the ability to wreak havoc against the spinners like he used to.
While I've been pleased to see the progress of Rizwan, he remains very much unproven on faster wickets outside Asia and there are countless accumulators in this side including Imam, Babar and Haris.
Umar Akmal is not a lower order hitter, so I don't deem Asif Ali as his competitor for a spot in the side. I would prefer to see these two names in the XI (as opposed to Shoaib Malik and Rizwan), so there is enough firepower in the side.
As mentioned numerous times recently, if any of Asif and Umar (as well as Fakhar) can click on their day this Pakistan side can set above par totals and chase 300+, otherwise we'll fall 20% short of par batting first and stand no chance with chasing high scores with the infestation of accumulators in the side.
I want to see my team play to win, not just compete but if that sounds bonkers I guess I have a more adventurous risk attitude compared to most - courtesy of my profession as an equity fund manager, where I'm accustomed to undertaking calculated risks on a daily basis. With a more cautious approach I can assure (from experience and learning the hard way!) I would be falling well short of my fund growth targets.
Now if Pakistan had a well rounded bowling attack with top quality pacers and at least one world class spinner, I would have no issues with an batting line up dominated by accumulators. It is unfortunate how the bowling standards have fallen in Pakistan, whereby only Shaheen is the only decent bowler in the pace attack.
You have to define how much of a Misbah fan I am.
For the time he was captain, he was good, leading Pakistan to number rank in Tests which you seem to have forgotten, he captained the team without any major controversy and he played a brand of cricket which helped Pakistan to get to the pinnacle of Test cricket.
Regarding ODI's, he played with a team which was NEVER good enough at any point to do anything special, and you can ONLY FAULT him for not changing a SET PATTERN and sticking to the same failed formula.
Everyone has his weaknesses, and Misbah had his.
Its glorious of you not to realize the context in which I admire Misbah, and completely ignore that a man can have his weaknesses.
What's even more hypocritical is that while you are unwilling to ignore the weaknesses in Misbah and are NOT a big time fan of him, you are willing to IGNORE THE PLETHORA OF WEAKNESSES in Umar Akmal just because at the back of your mind, he is a dynamic batsmen.
Do I think Misbah should play now? No. Do I think Misbah is an ATG batsmen and captain? NO. Do I think he did well for Pakistan? Considering the circumstances, yes.
Now back to your original topic.
You have given me names of certain alternatives to Umar Akmal, and while none of them are any better than Akmal, that is not to say Umar Akmal in the present condition is any better than them.
I mean he got 5 consecutive opportunities against Australia and at least in 2 of them, he gave clear chances which were dropped (not his fault agreed), while the remaining 3 he did not look anywhere like leading Pakistan home.
His contemporary Rizwan actually made two centuries at a higher strike rate (sure in the 1st match he was quite selfish), but nonetheless in similar situations he made good of his chances by striking 2 out 5 in 5 matches.
Others like Abid Ali and Haris Sohail also made good of their chances.
So why can't Umar Akmal do the same? The argument of him batting too low, batting too high, too much under pressure, RRR is too high, needed to slog at the start, got unlucky, was trying to up the runrate has been abused to such a point that sometimes I even wonder if he himself doesn't blame his green lipstick for his lack of performance.
Now, tell me, out of everything that I have mentioned, why DO you think Umar Akmal will turn over a new leaf, or will perform BETTER than the 5 instances you have seen so far?
What makes you think that?
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