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[VIDEO] Umar Akmal staking another claim for selection?

And he's back! Part of the Pakistan squad for the ODIs vs Australia
 
If Pak management is serious about Umar Akmal, then the team will become doubly dangerous. He will be the guy to fear for the opponents.
 
Not really followed much of PSL but I imagine that Umar Akmal has scored piles of runs , 100s and 50s, to earn his place back? Oh wait a minute he’s replacing Hafeez? Okay in that case a couple of 30s and a 40 against a weaker bowling attack is good enough.
 
Recharged Umar Akmal eyes success with Pakistan, Gladiators

KARACHI: When Umar Akmal reached the National Cricket Academy in Lahore on Aug 16, 2017 to start training again to regain fitness after he was dropped from the Pakistan squad ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy earlier that year, he was asked to leave.

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur disallowed the controversial batsman from using the facilities at the elite-most cricket training centre of the country and asked him to go and play club cricket.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the head of the national selection committee, had the same instructions for Umar.

A heated argument with the coach and the selector had to end the career of a batsman who has been disappointing with fitness and discipline issues despite possessing skills which were clearly promising.

But Umar did do exactly what he was asked to.

“I worked on my fitness and tried to regain the focus I think I had lost. I spent time playing club cricket [when out of national team] as Mickey Arthur and Inzi bhai asked me to do,” Umar told Dawn on Saturday.

Umar also excelled in the first-class circuit and ended up as the third-highest run-getter in the 2018 Quaid-i-Azam Trophy with 736 runs (averaging almost 41) for the winners Habib Bank Limited.

Back in form and amongst runs, the next big thing that happened to Umar was him being traded to Pakistan Super League franchise Quetta Gladiators from Lahore Qalandars.

The move brought Umar in a dressing room which had the likes of West Indies great Sir Vivian Richards, former Pakistan wicket-keeper Moin Khan, former all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and Azam Khan, who has been a father figure for many cricketers growing up and playing the game in Karachi.

Umar said he has been learning from all the aforementioned names.

“I’m grateful that we have such a big legend [Richards] in our team and I’m learning a lot from him. Apart from him, our head coach Moin Khan is also someone I learn from. I’m working on my power hitting and Razzaq bhai is helping me with it. Azam Khan too has helped me staying on the right track,” said the 28-year-old.

With 277 runs at an average of 34 against his name in the top-scorers chart of the ongoing PSL, the explosive right-hander hasn’t been extraordinary as far as numbers are concerned. But some of the shots he had played during the tournament and his improved fitness have seemed to convince Arthur and Inzamam that the flamboyant Umar deserves another chance.

Umar, therefore, has been named in the Pakistan squad for the upcoming ODI series against Australia and the selection happened after a chat with Arthur himself.

“Mickey told me I was a match winner and I can finish games and I can do that if I display more control,” revealed the Lahore-born cricketer.

One of the most promising batsmen in the country with the skillset he holds, Umar sees his return to the national squad as a new life and does not want to repeat the mistakes which had almost put an end to his career.

“I’m trying to avoid playing irresponsible shots and the Quetta Gladiators team management deserves credit for fixing that side of my game,” he said.

Starting from the PSL final on Sunday, the hard-hitter wants to score runs whenever he goes out to bat and not only that. He wants to keep improving too.

“I want to maintain my current form. To start with, I’m focusing on the [PSL] final. After this I’ll join the national team. I’ll try to perform in every match I play and improve day by day,” said Umar.

Umar wants to forget the past and move on. The Australia series, he said, will be like the first he has played for country.

“I want to forget whatever has happened in the past, whether it is good or bad. I’ll play this series just like it’s my debut. I request the fans to back me and the team,” he said.

The Aussies are a team in form after comprehensively beating India 3-2 in the five-match ODI series away from home. Umar said the visitors’ form will only help setting the stage for some good cricket.

“Australia are high on confidence after the series win against India but our boys will be carrying their PSL form and they will be feeling confident. The fans will get to see good cricket,” he said.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1470055/recharged-umar-akmal-eyes-success-with-pakistan-gladiators
 
Typical from Umar tries to go after the spinner and skies it

Thankfully for him, Aus dropped his catch
 
U. Akmal taking the Aussies to the cleaners!

So valuable if only he balances his innings better instead of going for only boundaries.
 
Umar Akmal is 10x the batsmen Asif Ali will be be

despite his inconsistency, he is a necessity in Pakistan's batting. Babar, Haris, Imam all play 90's style of cricket
 
a few sixes and you lot will get impressed.

And then when he returns to his same old habits, you will bash him only to recall him back after a 2 year break

the cycle will continue
 
Major said:
a few sixes and you lot will get impressed.

And then when he returns to his same old habits, you will bash him only to recall him back after a 2 year break

the cycle will continue
Click to expand...

he needs to be managed well, such an underachiever for the talent he is with all to blame himself only..
 
Played well but disappointed the way he got out. Poor game sense.

He showed his ability but that's not enough in Int Cricket. Hopefully Mickey can work with him on prolonging his innings.
 
The only batsman who played at a good strike rate.

Yet getting hate from the usual suspects. :))) :)))

Of course these guys want Shan Masood and Fawad Alam in the team!! Not a dynamic batsman like Umar.

Umar , Babar, will be our assets in England and on any good pitch.

UAE is batsman's graveyard.

Yet Umar is our best batsman today. Or maybe Harris.
 
JibranAnsari said:
Got out in an irresponsible manner , anyway we dont have much choice.
Click to expand...

The pitch is on the slower side he did well he's more suited to quicker wickets the shot he got out to didn't work on a slower wicket as long as he's selected in the top 4 consistently he'll do well the pitches are generally flatter now compared to 5-10 years ago.
 
Hawkeye said:
The only batsman who played at a good strike rate.

Yet getting hate from the usual suspects. :))) :)))

Of course these guys want Shan Masood and Fawad Alam in the team!! Not a dynamic batsman like Umar.

Umar , Babar, will be our assets in England and on any good pitch.

UAE is batsman's graveyard.

Yet Umar is our best batsman today. Or maybe Harris.
Click to expand...

Spot on here.

Those who still oppose his selection ought to answer whether they would prefer a 50 off 50 or a 50 off 70-80 balls from the likes of Malik, Haris & co?
 
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Decent inns today and played with positive intent and scored quickly unlike the rest of the batting line up.
 
i heard he was dropped on 13 so rather lucky i would say even though i want him to do well
 
Omer2002 said:
i heard he was dropped on 13 so rather lucky i would say even though i want him to do well
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THIS!

even in a come back situation, he already threw it all away with that one shot, 3 sixes (1 timed well) in an over won't be enough i hope.

awaiting his drop catches count in the Aus innings

Yes he can hit a good ball once in a while but is mentally not up to the mark for this level.
 
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Omer2002 said:
i heard he was dropped on 13 so rather lucky i would say even though i want him to do well
Click to expand...
Any innings where batsmen ride on luck shouldn't really count for anything but the stats book.

He has the rest of the series to show if he's improved and deserves to be our finisher.
 
He looked decent. Still would need to see a lot more.

He got out at a bad time and took a bad shot. Needs to understand his opponent and pick his spots.

Still has too much of a poor mind to go along with the talent.

Open him. See what happens.
 
topspin said:
Spot on here.

Those who still oppose his selection ought to answer whether they would prefer a 50 off 50 or a 50 off 70-80 balls from the likes of Malik, Haris & co?
Click to expand...

you need a balance.

with all those haris/babars/masoods/imams/maliks/hafeezs playing the same type of cricket, you can easily slot Umar Akmal somewhere between them
 
Umar will always put Pakistan in a difficult situation.

He will look better than Kohli for a few superlative 10 minutes, only to throw it all away in a minute or two of madness.

Its useless to expect anything from him.

He will always give a few chances with his braindead slogs, and even after 10 years, he did the same thing today, so we have to compromise.

If he performs well, its a bonus.

If he doesn't, well, he is not going to be kicked out anyways till the World Cup, so lets just ignore it.
 
Still the same way to get out lol 2 Saal kyaa seekha.. nothing..always looses shape when going for those ugly hoiks, when only sweet timing is needed which he possesses 🤷🏽*♂️
 
Cric1234 said:
The pitch is on the slower side he did well he's more suited to quicker wickets the shot he got out to didn't work on a slower wicket as long as he's selected in the top 4 consistently he'll do well the pitches are generally flatter now compared to 5-10 years ago.
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We will see , i believe though that he will be out of the team after world cup. He doesnt have the mindset to score consistently , only if he had learnt to bowl a bit he could have been an asset as a batting all rounder.
 
Prince of Pakistan said:
Abid Ali looking fitter and younger than expected. Some people even used to call him a geezer.
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People who have no knowledge of domestic and have never seen him playing in a telecasted match were first to comment and bash Abid. Sickening to see such negative mentality again and again.

Abid has played daddy innings in domestic and even scored a 200 last year in one days. So much for lack of fitness. Bas Malik khilwa lo in sai as Malik is supposedly tall dark and handsome in their book and thats what you need to be playing for Pakistan.
 
How will he ever improve?All the talent in the world but cannot apply himself.
 
Appalling dismissal.

Wonder what excuses his fans will dish out. His batting position was 5 and came in early so that excuse cannot be used.
 
MenInG said:
How will he ever improve?All the talent in the world but cannot apply himself.
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This guy was never a talented player but get huge hype from media. He should be no where near any Pakistan squad.
 
Bhaag Viru Bhaag said:
If you combine Kohli and Afridi you will get Umar Akmal. :inti
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If you combine Kohli and Afridi you’d still end up with a pretty decent batsmen. Umar akmal is no where near that quality.

You get Umar Akmal when you combine Imran Farhat and Afridi.
 
There's no time to dilly dally keep playing these silly shots and he'll soon be out of the team needs to learn now fielders on boundary no need to hit sixes early on in the innings.
It's disappointing as once again he got himself out.
The temperament to get to 40 50 runs without taking risks has to be learnt then look to go big.
 
Can't they just tell him not to go aerial route until you score a 50 odd, if you do that than your out of the team. Seems pretty clear instructions to me.
 
While I am not expecting much given how unfit he looks, I would say we should wait till the end of this series. After all Azam Khans dad did say, that it’s about giving confidence to the player.
 
Gets recalled
Looks good
Plays some nice shots
Gets out to a stupid shot
Gets dropped

Repeat the above.......
 
The thing is that Pakistan have all the ingredients to make a solid side but there seems to be no understanding of how to utilize the best players.

Imad has been superb at 6-7 but he will never get promoted to open instead of Fakhar. Umar is a positive player who wants to take the game on but has to settle in the middle order with the field wide spread.
 
Rana said:
The thing is that Pakistan have all the ingredients to make a solid side but there seems to be no understanding of how to utilize the best players.

Imad has been superb at 6-7 but he will never get promoted to open instead of Fakhar. Umar is a positive player who wants to take the game on but has to settle in the middle order with the field wide spread.
Click to expand...

Akmal isn't ideal to come in after the 20th over he likes pace on the ball can play spin fine too with fielders on the boundary plays the wrong shot but he can give quick starts up the order as a long term opening batsman Imam will be a liability unless he scores big.
 
Rana said:
The thing is that Pakistan have all the ingredients to make a solid side but there seems to be no understanding of how to utilize the best players.
Click to expand...

First part I agree with that but 2nd part is wrong. Its not about understanding. Its all about unfair selection due to corruption which may fall under nepotism, bias, favoritism.......
There are many spinners are better than Yasir but he was selected you know why?
Same thing goes about PSL/Pakistan Cup squad Many young promising batsmen either left out or not given fair chances. No wicket keeper batsmen/openers also not selected.
 
Saj said:
Gets recalled
Looks good
Plays some nice shots
Gets out to a stupid shot
Gets dropped

Repeat the above.......
Click to expand...

Simply not good enough. Always his PSL performance gets him a place in the team out of nowhere. Same thing happend last time when he was selected and dropped.

Some questioned why send rizwan at 4 and not UA today. But the inns rizwan played UA can only dream of. It is indeed for a reason this brainless idiot didnt score enough centuries. He had so many chances in the past to score centuries where he failed evry time.
 
Rana said:
The thing is that Pakistan have all the ingredients to make a solid side but there seems to be no understanding of how to utilize the best players.

Imad has been superb at 6-7 but he will never get promoted to open instead of Fakhar. Umar is a positive player who wants to take the game on but has to settle in the middle order with the field wide spread.
Click to expand...

Could he be tried as opener? Could benefit since he likes the aerial route and most fielders will be in the circle. Also provides a left/right hand combo if opening with either Fakhar, Shan or Imam.
 
Rohit Sharma was also failing repeatedly in middle order and everyone wanted him to be dropped but then Dhoni gave him long run as an opener in LOI and rest is history. Just accept the fact that Umar doesn’t have patience to be a finisher. He gets rush of blood every now and then and he can’t change is metal wiring. If Pak fans can accept Afridi as how he was then why can’t they accept Umar as he is and find a role for him in the team. Always telling him that he needs to change this, do this, do that etc is wrong in my humble opinion. The career of a player depends highly on how team management treats a player. Look at how Amir is treated and how Junaid is treated. I rest my case.
 
Kroll said:
Could he be tried as opener? Could benefit since he likes the aerial route and most fielders will be in the circle. Also provides a left/right hand combo if opening with either Fakhar, Shan or Imam.
Click to expand...

How many times was he caught in the boundary to give a chance as an opener.
 
Umar can be a good T20 batsman but that's about it. He would disappoint us over and over again if selected for ODI or test format. He is not cut out to build innings but does have all the shots when playing without thinking which is where T20 comes into play.
 
@Saj

Any way you can suggest to Inzi and Mickey to try him as an opener?
 
ask_analyse_act said:
Simply not good enough. Always his PSL performance gets him a place in the team out of nowhere. Same thing happend last time when he was selected and dropped.

Some questioned why send rizwan at 4 and not UA today. But the inns rizwan played UA can only dream of. It is indeed for a reason this brainless idiot didnt score enough centuries. He had so many chances in the past to score centuries where he failed evry time.
Click to expand...

Of course not Akmal wouldn't nudge and nurdle his way to a hundred he'd make sure he scores as much as possible and put a winning total on board instead of scoring a 85 strike rate hundred and over celebrating it when its actually a match losing one simply prolonging the loss further.
 
The guy doesn’t really think unfortunately. He has the ability to play proper shots without skying the ball straight to the fielder. I don’t think opening will change his habits as he still will must likely find the field.
 
Cric1234 said:
Of course not Akmal wouldn't nudge and nurdle his way to a hundred he'd make sure he scores as much as possible and put a winning total on board instead of scoring a 85 strike rate hundred and over celebrating it when its actually a match losing one simply prolonging the loss further.
Click to expand...

:maqsood. Akmal wouldn’t score a hundred is the right word. Scoring centuries is an art, u talk like he has already scored many kohlisque like hundreds to showcase as an example but in reality he couldn’t last 60 balls which is 10 overs 1/5 of an ODI 50 overs rather scoring a hundred @ 100+ SR:stokes

He is just a slogger who can’t last 100 balls in any format to score a hundred of any kind.
 
ask_analyse_act said:
:maqsood. Akmal wouldn’t score a hundred is the right word. Scoring centuries is an art, u talk like he has already scored many kohlisque like hundreds to showcase as an example but in reality he couldn’t last 60 balls which is 10 overs 1/5 of an ODI 50 overs rather scoring a hundred @ 100+ SR:stokes

He is just a slogger who can’t last 100 balls in any format to score a hundred of any kind.
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He has 2 hundreds both are the type needed by the team to post winning totals mental strength and the hunger to improve more is clearly lacking in his game to go to the next level concentration levels have to be improved.
 
Cric_lover4487 said:
Rohit Sharma was also failing repeatedly in middle order and everyone wanted him to be dropped but then Dhoni gave him long run as an opener in LOI and rest is history. Just accept the fact that Umar doesn’t have patience to be a finisher. He gets rush of blood every now and then and he can’t change is metal wiring. If Pak fans can accept Afridi as how he was then why can’t they accept Umar as he is and find a role for him in the team. Always telling him that he needs to change this, do this, do that etc is wrong in my humble opinion. The career of a player depends highly on how team management treats a player. Look at how Amir is treated and how Junaid is treated. I rest my case.
Click to expand...

Afridi could at least bowl pretty good and was a damn good fielder. His batting was a bonus and even then he averages similar to Akmal in that department as well and has won Pakistan plenty of games just with this bat, something Akmal has never and would never be able to even if he played for 50 years.
 
Zhasan said:
Afridi could at least bowl pretty good and was a damn good fielder. His batting was a bonus and even then he averages similar to Akmal in that department as well and has won Pakistan plenty of games just with this bat, something Akmal has never and would never be able to even if he played for 50 years.
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Let's not lie to prove our point lol. Akmal's record is not bad. He averages close to 35 with a decent strike rate.
 
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Not looking too good for Umar based on below from Mickey Arthur today


"Discipline wise there's definitely a difference (Umar Akmal). I can't sit here and fault him, the way he's come into the team, the way he's tried and prepared, he's been very good. He's done a very good job while he's been in this environment. He knows what the standards in this environment are and he knows where he needs to be if he's going to put himself into contention for a berth going forward. I can't fault his attitude. His fitness has got better, but he's still got a bit of work to do there. So have a couple of other guys who are brand new, just coming to our squad. We'll have fitness tests on the 14th of April in Lahore and to be eligible for the World Cup squad, you need to pass that"
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
It's weird, he was looking like he'd lost weight for the PSL, and everyone was commenting on it, but in this series it looks like he's put it all back on again. Must have celebrated getting a Pakistan recall with a few too many chapli kebabs.
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Damn, I want a chapli kebab now.

Hoping Umar Akmal comes good this series
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
It's weird, he was looking like he'd lost weight for the PSL, and everyone was commenting on it, but in this series it looks like he's put it all back on again. Must have celebrated getting a Pakistan recall with a few too many chapli kebabs.
Click to expand...
I think the team management are resigned to it.
 
Unfit and out of shape - The Umar Akmal story continue. Probably didnt have the energy to hit the ball out of the park
 
If he can pass the fitness test on 14th, he should be batting at 6 in the WC. Cannot do worse than Malik and Hafeez.
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
It's weird, he was looking like he'd lost weight for the PSL, and everyone was commenting on it, but in this series it looks like he's put it all back on again. Must have celebrated getting a Pakistan recall with a few too many chapli kebabs.
Click to expand...

It's all the water he has been drinking. Look at him with a cup in his hand
 
No.

He does not.

Unfit, brainless, not capable of building an innings. It is over. Time to move on.
 
It was over long time ago but should be persisted with for T20 ONLY. He is not capable of anything else except for brainless cricket format ala T20.
 
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