Hansar
Tape Ball Regular
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2006
- Runs
- 318
Firstly, I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to Umar Akmal, who turned 23 today.
Now, on to the business; there's a very pronounced divide amongst the posters here at PakPassion when it comes to Umar Akmal. There are countless blind supporters who acknowledge the undeniable talent that is Umar Akmal, and then there is the other party that sees the faults, namely a lack of temperament.
I belong somewhere in the middle. & here comes the statement which our whole Indian community will rebut with their lives.
Umar Akmal, has the tools to easily surpass Tendulkar as an ODI batsman; he lacks the temperament to achieve similar feats in tests, and most likely won't ever reach him in that respect.
Now, to those who disagree with me and claim that Akmal isn't a very capable batsman, or is a tried and tested bust. I'd like you to keep in mind that cricket is a sport that isn't played in very large volumes, and sample sizes are usually quite small; thus we've fabricated the term 'form', which basically consists of an aspect of luck and confidence, which are both dependant on each other, somewhat defeating the purpose entirely. Myself, I believe that a talented batsman will produce, and should never be dropped on the basis of one or two bad series'.
Here is a more statistical comparison of Sachin & Umar using 'cumulative averages'.
Sachin:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...emplate=results;type=allround;view=cumulative
Umar:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...emplate=results;type=allround;view=cumulative
Sachin played his 71st ODI about to turn 22, Akmal played his 71st ODI at age 22. Akmal had a much, much higher average to boot at that time; furthermore, Tendulkar didn't score his first ODI century until his 79th match.
His average remained below Akmal's until his 103rd match, however, he did not maintain that average, there were several oscillations in his form until 1998, having played his 191st ODI, after which, he consistently maintained an average in the 40s. He was 25 at this time, he continued on to post 49 ODI centuries.
If Akmal was to go on a slump (Sachin went on several, during his first 71 matched), and his average were to drop below 32, he would probably be dropped from the squad for a very prolonged period of time, making a comeback when he was finally in his 30's.
This is how Pakistan operates, whether its captaincies, switching opening pairs, bowling coaches, batting coaches. This is how we continue to waste our talent, making illogical decisions short-sightedly, while giving ample time to tried and tested failures. One of the glaring reasons why our batting has been a failure, thankfully, Allah has blessed us with such an expansive crop of fast bowlers that, that department rarely suffers. We have undeniable talent stuck in our system, but when will we ever use it properly?
-Insert: Fawad Alam, Khalid Latif, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and the list can continue for an eternity.
So the moral of the story is, if they show that they have star talent, stick with it, develop them. They will produce. What's to lose? If they don't produce after a good volume of matches, replace them. Our alternative is to give tried and tested failures such as Imran Farhat a go instead anyway; atleast this way we'll be developing our future.
Heck, even Babar Azam should be given some exposure here an there from an early age, the kid has an average of 57 in list a, consistently topping tournaments, our batting line-up stumbles to 19/4 against teams like Ireland anyway.
Now, on to the business; there's a very pronounced divide amongst the posters here at PakPassion when it comes to Umar Akmal. There are countless blind supporters who acknowledge the undeniable talent that is Umar Akmal, and then there is the other party that sees the faults, namely a lack of temperament.
I belong somewhere in the middle. & here comes the statement which our whole Indian community will rebut with their lives.
Umar Akmal, has the tools to easily surpass Tendulkar as an ODI batsman; he lacks the temperament to achieve similar feats in tests, and most likely won't ever reach him in that respect.
Now, to those who disagree with me and claim that Akmal isn't a very capable batsman, or is a tried and tested bust. I'd like you to keep in mind that cricket is a sport that isn't played in very large volumes, and sample sizes are usually quite small; thus we've fabricated the term 'form', which basically consists of an aspect of luck and confidence, which are both dependant on each other, somewhat defeating the purpose entirely. Myself, I believe that a talented batsman will produce, and should never be dropped on the basis of one or two bad series'.
Here is a more statistical comparison of Sachin & Umar using 'cumulative averages'.
Sachin:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...emplate=results;type=allround;view=cumulative
Umar:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...emplate=results;type=allround;view=cumulative
Sachin played his 71st ODI about to turn 22, Akmal played his 71st ODI at age 22. Akmal had a much, much higher average to boot at that time; furthermore, Tendulkar didn't score his first ODI century until his 79th match.
His average remained below Akmal's until his 103rd match, however, he did not maintain that average, there were several oscillations in his form until 1998, having played his 191st ODI, after which, he consistently maintained an average in the 40s. He was 25 at this time, he continued on to post 49 ODI centuries.
If Akmal was to go on a slump (Sachin went on several, during his first 71 matched), and his average were to drop below 32, he would probably be dropped from the squad for a very prolonged period of time, making a comeback when he was finally in his 30's.
This is how Pakistan operates, whether its captaincies, switching opening pairs, bowling coaches, batting coaches. This is how we continue to waste our talent, making illogical decisions short-sightedly, while giving ample time to tried and tested failures. One of the glaring reasons why our batting has been a failure, thankfully, Allah has blessed us with such an expansive crop of fast bowlers that, that department rarely suffers. We have undeniable talent stuck in our system, but when will we ever use it properly?
-Insert: Fawad Alam, Khalid Latif, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and the list can continue for an eternity.
So the moral of the story is, if they show that they have star talent, stick with it, develop them. They will produce. What's to lose? If they don't produce after a good volume of matches, replace them. Our alternative is to give tried and tested failures such as Imran Farhat a go instead anyway; atleast this way we'll be developing our future.
Heck, even Babar Azam should be given some exposure here an there from an early age, the kid has an average of 57 in list a, consistently topping tournaments, our batting line-up stumbles to 19/4 against teams like Ireland anyway.
) Some people on here are hillarious
.
