Umar Akmal vs Dwayne Smith - a fitness debate

[stevewittry]

Watching Dwayne Smith a permanent member of the Gujarat Lions IPL team makes one wonder whether fitness has the same weight age across all forms of Professional cricket. The guy has completely lost it as far as his shape goes and he is a complete liability on the field and with the ball. The only reason he is part of the team is probably because of his hitting prowess at the top which to me is a bit overrated.

We know Umar Akmal the best Pakistani batsman in the limited overs format was dropped recently on fitness grounds, which is a major risk for two reasons - He is premier batsman and the Champions Trophy is approaching. So one would want to be on top of his game and provide maximum exposure.

This begs the question - Is someone like DR Smith with his pathetic fitness a more valuable player than what Akmal is to the Pakistani side? Are the Pakistani selectors going a bit overboard with the whole fitness thing ? A noteworthy point of debate.

 

[Sherlock]

I think you can add a couple of other West Indies players in the same argument too. Pollard be one.

 

[Gotham Cronie]

I must have missed it. Did they change the Champions Trophy to the T20I version?

 

[stevewittry]

I think you can add a couple of other West Indies players in the same argument too. Pollard be one.

True. But DR Smith is quite an aberration. We have guys like Pollard who are brilliant fielders despite their heavy frame.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

You can't compare international cricket to a domestic t20 tournament. Clearly the fitness threshold expected will differ in these cases.

 

[Finisher]

Umar Akmal isn't even the best limited overs batsmen in his own family now.

 

[Pete Rose]

Too many factual inaccuracies in op to contribute to this thread. There is no world in which Umar Akmal is best anything as part of pakistan

 

[in_cutter]

Watching Dwayne Smith a permanent member of the Gujarat Lions IPL team makes one wonder whether fitness has the same weight age across all forms of Professional cricket. The guy has completely lost it as far as his shape goes and he is a complete liability on the field and with the ball. The only reason he is part of the team is probably because of his hitting prowess at the top which to me is a bit overrated.

We know Umar Akmal the best Pakistani batsman in the limited overs format was dropped recently on fitness grounds, which is a major risk for two reasons - He is premier batsman and the Champions Trophy is approaching. So one would want to be on top of his game and provide maximum exposure.

This begs the question - Is someone like DR Smith with his pathetic fitness a more valuable player than what Akmal is to the Pakistani side? Are the Pakistani selectors going a bit overboard with the whole fitness thing ? A noteworthy point of debate.

On what basis is Umar Akmal our best LOI batsman?

 

[leatherface58]

Dwayne Smith confirmed to get the orange cap now!

 

[Gr8Gaur]

Umar Akmal isn't even the best limited overs batsmen in his own family now.

I thought Babar took that place of best LOI batsman in PAK.

 

[Mir jibran]

On what basis is Umar Akmal our best LOI batsman?

even i am scratching my head
how can on call umar akmal our best batsman ?
come on guys umar akmal chapter should be closed now

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Too many factual inaccuracies in op to contribute to this thread. There is no world in which Umar Akmal is best anything as part of pakistan

umar akmal still has the best non parody interesting twitter account in pakistan.

fact.

there goes your statement now please contribute to the thread

 

[Mamoon]

'We know Umar Akmal the best Pakistani batsman in the limited overs format'

'He is premier batsman'

Not sure if 2011 or 2017.

 

[Slog]

This begs the question - Is someone like DR Smith with his pathetic fitness a more valuable player than what Akmal is to the Pakistani side? Are the Pakistani selectors going a bit overboard with the whole fitness thing ? A noteworthy point of debate.

Maybe thats why Dwayne Smith:

1) has such a poor record in international cricket
2) doesnt play internationals anymore

 

[Slog]

btw such dishonesty in the premise of the OP

Umar Akmal is NOWEHRE near our best LOI bat regardless of fitness

 

[in_cutter]

Still waiting for [MENTION=5727]stevewittry[/MENTION] to explain re Umar is our premier batsman..

 

[stevewittry]

Still waiting for [MENTION=5727]stevewittry[/MENTION] to explain re Umar is our premier batsman..

I see posters having strange affinity for Babar Azam. Given the best Babar at best is an accumulator and can best accomplish is a 90 something strike rate. This means even if he scores a 150 that would at the cost of 160 balls. That leaves 140 balls for the other batsmen who are equally or more pathetic with strike rates. Thus Babar scoring a 100 would mean Pakistan falling short of 300 most times thus resulting in defeats. Umar Akmal is more of an impact player and if he scores big will be at healthy strike rate, which Babar can only dream of. Lately he has not been given a fair run and all his chances were as a number 6. This has resulted in lack of confidence and form.

One must not forget the innings he can play at top order if you were to evaluate him on the same scale as Babar.

Give him 2 to 3 series as a top order and then make your pick.

 

[fasihulhaq94]

I see posters having strange affinity for Babar Azam. Given the best Babar at best is an accumulator and can best accomplish is a 90 something strike rate. This means even if he scores a 150 that would at the cost of 160 balls. That leaves 140 balls for the other batsmen who are equally or more pathetic with strike rates. Thus Babar scoring a 100 would mean Pakistan falling short of 300 most times thus resulting in defeats. Umar Akmal is more of an impact player and if he scores big will be at healthy strike rate, which Babar can only dream of. Lately he has not been given a fair run and all his chances were as a number 6. This has resulted in lack of confidence and form.

One must not forget the innings he can play at top order if you were to evaluate him on the same scale as Babar.

Give him 2 to 3 series as a top order and then make your pick.

)

give me 3 chances as opener vs give me 3 series in top order