Pakistan saw at least two vital and easy dismissals drop out of their hands thanks to shoddy wicket-keeping from Kamran Akmal. Andrew Strauss’s straightforward caught-behind chance in the fifth over could have proved much costlier than it did. The second chance that he missed was one of the easiest stumping opportunities one can recall. Here, Paul Collingwood had walked such a long way down the crease that had Kamran caught the ball in the second attempt, even then he would have been able to knock the bails off. However, it was not to be and so a vital chance to break England’s best partnership came and went. Collingwood was on 48 then and he is still batting on 77 while Pakistan continue their search for a breakthrough.
This is not the first time Kamran Akmal’s ‘keeping has cost Pakistan so heavily. Who doesn’t remember Sydney 2010? Is Kamran’s experience and batting prowess really so important for Pakistan that he cannot be replaced by another ‘keeper? Should he play as a specialist batsman? And if he is replaced then by who?
Pakistan need to find answers to these questions fast or the series will slip out of their hands…
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Now it is clearly evident what is the problem in the pakistan side, for last couple of years this group of Butts, Akmals and Maliks want to take over the team they never supported the likes of Younis or Yousuf and finally Afridi by under performing and creating ugly dressing room environment. Kaneria is out due to one match performance but Akmal stays in with a whole year of pathetic performance behind him.
No doubt, Wicket keeping is a specialist job and batting could be an additional advantage for a player but not at the cost of 2-3 missed chances. If you notice Kamran Akmal doesn’t even collect the straight balls at times. I believe time’s already up for him for quite long specially from test cricket and Sarfraz Ahmed should be given a chance who is sitting on the bench watching helplessly. Oh sorry this is Zulqarnain sitting on the bench Sarfraz is replaced by Zulqarnain while waiting for his turn GREAT job done by PCB.
Just want to add a little about Butt sahib’s comments on the inclusion of Yousuf… Butt Sahib, when you talk about Pakistan’s losses in the presence of Yousuf /Younis you forget that these players were still performing good and it was you and company not performing due to which we lost matches. Pakistan never had problems in recent times in the middle order it was openers, no.6 batsman and the wicket keeper which let us down in the recent past. Chk the statistics and you’ll know the facts. Players having avg. 30+ are in the side and players avg. 40-50+ are out great job done by you and company.
I give 10 out of 10 to Waseem’s thinking and ideas as he made very bold statement about Butts, Akmals and Maliks and I reckon this trio deserve axing rather than playing with the intelligence of innocent Pakistani people and cricket fans.
Our cricket can not perform well unless and until we forget division among ourselves and try accommodating players from every province of Pakistan rather than only one province.
This could be a match to end a career.
A pair of ducks, three (?) dropped catches, a missed stumping, and a generally clueless expression on his face. From what I’ve seen of Zulqarnain, he can barely handle a bat, but if he doesn’t do better than Akmal, I’ll eat my hat.
A little poetry for you guys
Pakistan’s needs at least 5-6 solid batsman who can play with courage and patience. Also, we need 2 good alrounders who can produce in bowling as well as batting. Kamal Akmal should be replaced with a competant wicket keeper. I don’t understand dropping to Kaneria & missed stumping is substandard keeping. It’s Kamal who needs to be dropped instead of Kaneria. Solid batsman like Yunus Khan and Yusuf are needed. Also, good openers are key to the other batsman. They must be able to carry atleast a century partnership. Need left arm spinner like Iqbal Qasim.
We need batsman who can be lions ( sher ) and face the tough when tough gets going.
The Pakistan Cricket Board, the Manager and the coach of the present Pakistan cricket team, and players like Akmal brothers should take a lesson from the Soccer team of France after their disaster at the World Cup. They all should resign. They should be pulled out and brought back to Pakistan. Any player who intentionally drops catches so that the team may lose, deserves to be saddled and humiliated publicly. There is enough talent in Pakistan to create a new, better, and cohesive team. The selection board, and their supporters should submit their resignation (if they have self respect, which I doubt hey have any.)
If Kamran is given precedence because of his batting then why doesn’t anyone consider this:
Kamran drops top batsmen at a score of 5 runs. Batsman does on to make 80. Does Kamran make up for the number of runs he gives away? No. Therefore, he must be dropped.
mir jafar of cricket mr mohsin khan now very happy after defeat of pakistan which is ashamable, he claimed earlier that i had made back up every players in pakistan, and i have selected team pure on merit, i would like only one quetion with chief selecstor whether selection kamran/umer amin/imran farhat/shoib malik and umer akmal in test squad is correct? answer is absolutely incorrect, owing reason that strong player does not want to include any merit player in national circuit, that is why chief selector is appointed as such person who has no crediblity in his family life as well as in cricket, pakistan team can not make good time unless until, pure merit selection is not made, i would like to share further, it has been reported that mr kamran akmal and umer akmal has listed out players with help of their lobbies kamran has shown their serious concern as claimed that if sarfraz is included in 35 players, i will be in pressure, that is why weak wickert keeper who has no performance in national circuit is selected ( zulqarnain) if you will anylasis the figures of the both brother of last five matches, they are self explanatory of their deserve or non-deserve selection, it is strangable faisal iqbal khurram manzoor and sarfraz ahmed is given only one chance in one test, and outest despite of facts they have performed well, for which astralian commentor and ex captain mr wah had appreciated these three players, by way of technique but pakistan chief selector either has eye problem or ego problems since joining as such person, pakistan is facing day by day decline, only one test won against austarlia which is pure efforts of three persons asif/amir and umer gul, in i would like again appeal all plakistani please please come forward and make struggle for merit of cricket, i blaim to mir jafar mohsin khan who is culprits for disaster of pakistan team, when he feels he is powerless he should resign from job, non-selection of merit players will damage entire cricket in pakistan, as other sports are very very decrline position like hockey squash tennis and so many others, if proper attention is not paid, we will see in near future, no body shal shall take interest in cricket .I would like lto appeal all pakistani please come forwarded for merit players who have been ignored one reason to another, pkaistan circket only survive if selection is made on merit, not on favoriasm, i salute shahid khan afridi who had resigned and vacte the position to any deserve crickter, but we do not expect same spirit from shoib/kamran/imran farhat/danish kanira as he is totally out of form,
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PCB should know that there is a lot of difference in playing one day, 20/20 and Test cricket. Test cricket needs a lot of patience from the batsman when he is on the crease and have to play each ball very carefully as he has a lot of time to be on the field unlike 20/20 or one day where main target is to make quick and more runs with in fix overs/time. With a few exceptions the whole current Pakistan team is comprise of youngsters who do not have experience to play long innings. Pakistan needs to have two teams one which specialize in TEST cricket and one for 20/20 and one day or a team mixture of both. PCB should select team on merit not on the basis of liking/disliking.
kamran Akmal and Umer Akmal should be out with Omar Amin. we need Yunus Khan back, he is playing in England instead of Yusuf who has not played cricket since return from New Zealand. Where is Sarafaraz? Before we do anything first Mr.Ejaz Butt should himself if he has some self respect resign.
For God’s sake please drop the Akmal brothers abd before them lease replace Ijaz Butt from the board. He is just does not deserve to be in that position as he tinks the board as his personal property.
sorry to say but this is fact that we running out of options as far as keeper is concern we got so much talent in our country but we still want the same old fashion excuses, it time to take decision because any way you can’t win the series the way we batted, one thing is sure that if they call any other keeper he will definitely can’t go worst than that, everybody says its a young side it think we go for young keeper, i think we need real keeper not the part time keeper in test you have to have the keeper not joker
I think openers and first down azhar ali is good….afterwards I think we need younis, yousuf and yasir hameed. Kamran akmal and his brother should be kicked out and shoib malik and umer amin as well. Get anew keeper…i dont know who… then the 3 pacers are fine…we need either a fourth pacer as it is not compulsary to play a spinner…i dont know where is that guy muhammad irfan…he is 6 feet 7 and like finn he will extract bounce to trouble batsmen and will be much better than kaneria who took 1 wicket and gave 170 odd runs at a rate of around 5 per over which is pathetic. Otherwise play that left handed spinner i forgot his name who was in 20 20 world cup…or saeed ajmal …all are better than kaneria…i think this will make a good balanced side…
Mind boggling and an amazing disparity between the kind of potent bowling attack Pakistan possesses and the fragile and even down right pathetic batting on display. One could argue the inexperience and the lack of international cricket being played the culprits for the sorry state of affairs pakistani cricket is in but then on the flip side there are veterans like Shoaib malik in the current team happily and unfairly holding a batting spot in the middle order and living in mediocricy, refusing to justify their constant selection…..what a shame and disgrace it would be for the likes of Amir and Asif to look back 20 years from now and realize they had played for a team who just compliment their talents.
kamran is not doing his job well in test matches both as batsman & keeper but his replacement is not easy as Pakistan can not afford luxury of specialist keeper when it is already operating with four specialist bowlers i.e 7 batsmen are left. As such Sarfraz being poor with bat does not fit in. I think Kamran be retained till 3rd test & Zulqarnain may be tried in 4th test. As far as Umer Akmal is concerned coaches must allow him to persist with his natural aggressive style as with Yuvraj or Gambhir. Critics of Malik should take some rest after his performance at Trent Bridge. Supporters of Younus may study his averages during last one year before making case for his return. PCB must continue with its policy of induction of fresh blood.
to Kamran akmal: friend like u who needs fo(e)llow-on………..
The man (Kamran Akmal) is a genius.
He has the ability to turn certain victory into inexplicable defeat. He is perceived as a team player possibly on account of his self appointed role as the team’s unofficial cheerleader on the pitch. He certainly takes his role seriously and his incessant chatter can be heard exhorting all his teammates to do better.
Alas, if only his actions were to match his words. As a wicket keeper, Kamran Akmal has no peer! He has perfected dropping catches and missing stumping opportunities to a degree where it can be considered a form of art. Not being content with mere improvement on what others may also attempt, Kamran has boldly ventured where no wicket keeper has gone before; refusing to run out a batsman when he had every opportunity to do so. What motivated him in his actions we may never know but he may have felt that the contest was not sufficiently sporting so the opposing team needed help that he was only too happy to extend. His latest trick of standing so far back to pace bowlers that prospects of a “snicked” chance reaching him at catchable height become fairly remote is further testament to his sporting nature.
These achievements and peculiarities while singular and remarkable are not sufficient to qualify the man as a true genius. Talented and unique he certainly is but a genius he cannot be called unless we consider his final and most endearing trait; his unique “chutzpah”. No matter what happens, Kamran Akmal is never embarrassed or contrite. It matters not whether catches are dropped, stumping opportunities wasted, run outs foregone or byes granted for want of effort but Kamran is always there urging his teammates to do more.
What a man!
The first step required is the change of the PCB Chairman. Without changing him it would not be possible to make any changes in th team where incompetent players like Kamran Akmal, Imran Farhat & Shaoib Malik. the less siad about Kaneria the better. He has failed to dismiss a top order batsman in the last three tests while the tailenders have been able to handle him with ease in the same matches. The great leg spinners like Warne had a plan against every batsman & could bamboozle the tailenders with ease. However, Kaneria has failed miserable to make or follow a plan & therby has failed to shoulder the responsibility of being the fourth bowler in the team.
One Thing More – If you want see Pakistan condition plz take stats from PCB and if you want to see PCB plz take stats from Pakistan Govt . Vice versa both are working on parallel lines LOL. Simple is that PCB sleepy and chairman Sab is along with every tour of Pakistan and every example is less then with Pak Govt but beyond that no wonder whats cooking.
Thanks,
Qamar
There is no player in Pak team who can give a stand of full day batting perhaps only 50 overs. In last test matches Pakistan has scored average runs 250 or less then that and lost all matches only because of BATTING. Akmal brothers should be kicked out of team after their loving brothers statements and fake injuiry report created by U.Akmal.
Pak team in my veiw should be 1.Salman Butt, 2.Imran Farhat (replace if any good player exist), 3.Yasir Hameed, 4.Younus Khan, 5.Mohd Yousuf, 6.Azhar Ali, 7.wicketKeeper?, 8.Mohd Amir, 9.Umar Gul, 10.Mohd Asif and 11.Saeed Ajmal. 12.Shoaib Akhter should also be given a chance in England favouring weather contions and his pace.
Plz Note* Azhar Ali can be replace by A.Razak as a allrounder because Pak team has no allrounder with good records
Plz Note* Akmal brothers should be a given a long rest and U.akmal should only be a part of T20 and ODI.
Thanks,
Qamar
I agree we need to give right people the chance. Enough is enough for how we are going to give chance to these fake test players like Akmal brothers and Shoaib Malik. We need Yonus / Yousaf/Razzak back in the squad.
I think its all PCBs chairman fault he has brought his back office confrontations to be more important then win / loss of our cricket team . I think he should be terminated Also Danish Kaneria is a flop he gives too many runs.
Pakistans performance is excellent in one day and 20-20 matches under Captain-ship of Shahid Afridi.I test matches Bowling is excellent with Mohammed Asif, Mohammed Amir,Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, etc. except the fielding and Wicket keeping of Kamran Akmal.Otherwise young bowlers are doing marvelous job.The biggest problem in test matches are Batsman,due to which they loose in Australia series in Australia.Last match also they struggled to score 180 runs against Australia.Why Pakistan selected new and inexperienced batsman like Azhar Ali,Umar Amin,Shoib mallik etc against England and that too in England where bowl swings more not like Asian DEAD wickets where no help for bowlers.Apart from that for test matches Pakistan has to appoint Yunus as captain ,and select Yusuf, Razzak,Fawad etc in test team. and Salman Butts decision of not consider experienced players will backfire him and he is not a capable captain.Look at Indian test team Tendulkar, Dravid,Laxman,Shewag,Ghambir,Yuvraj all are experienced batsman though Indian bowling is not strong like Pakistan and India is No.1 or 2 in position.Salman,Waqar dont think of your personnel advantage think of good team and don’t waste talent,Pakistan has produced lot of talented world class batsman like Javed ,Zaheer, Majid,Ramiz,Amir Sohail,Saaed Anwar,Mohammed Yusuf,Yunus,Inzamam,Imran etc ,just the selection committee job is to search & utilisation of talent test Batsman. For one day and 20-20 they are excellent in batting and Bowling under Bang Bang Afridi.
What is the official statement from PCB as a reason for younus to be out and Kamran Akmal to be in? Kamran Akmal can only fit into this weak Pakistani batting line up as an opening or one down batsmen, because of his seniority. HE SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM BEHIND THE WICKET.
where has the batting talent gone in Pakistan? Is Kamran Akmal the best available choice the whole of Pakistan cricket? if yes, then we seriously need to work on our basics.
PCB must be select the team by HONESTY otherwise same result what u r looking on day 3rd in first match if we lost this mach more than 50% reason of wicketkeeper. Who will take responsibility?ITs very hard to say till PCB is playing in the hands of politician. Who they select the good team.Its looking like cricket is also like hockey now.
See we tend to have various problems with our team. First and foremost, we need to get rid of the schemers from the team, which is Shoaib Malik and have him be replaced by Yasir Hameed.
We can play Kamran Akmal solely as a batsman since our batting is the thing that is lacking a lot of stature and have Sarfraz Ahmed come in as our specialist wicket-keeper.
Ya we can further dwell if Yousuf and Younis should have been in the team, but lets leave the should-haves and could-haves a side since i don’t think the they will be brought in for this tour.
As for the bowling, we need to replace Kaneria with Ajmal, specially since the english players have had a history in not being able to pick up the doosra and due to the fact that kaneria is going through a bad patch!
Kamran’s biggest problem seems to be his inconsistent focus. It becomes very obvious that he is not fit for Test format of the game. Time and again he missed such a simple chances that even a club keeper wouldn’t miss. With this kind of performance I can’t believe selectors still persistent to keep him in the team. As far his batting is concern when the last time he scored a hundred or a significant score? I think we need to find a specials keeper and only include Kamran in shorter format of the game until we have a better choice than him. It is a pity that both Younus and Yousuf are sitting out. Their inclusion would bring a great balance in the team and team can definitely compete with any team in the world.
He sucks as a keeper. get rid of him. He is in the side as a keeper….. but he drops catches… get rid of him. No matter how many runs he score ….. how in the world are you going to bowl out the opposition if he keeps missing chances…….. get rid of him. are you listening Mr. Butt …