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…
The views expressed by the reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
Well, he should have been dropped quite earlier after he dropped Hussy thrice in Sydney test which Pakistan eventually lost in the beginning of this year. It’s a pity that he’s been made vice captain of the team and he keeps on dropping lolly pop chances and causing his team a heavy burden of defeats.
He should have been sent home after this test if there are some people who have some cricketing sense and good judgement.
surprising to see that in a country of 170 million people where Cricket is played in every street of every major or minor city, we can not find a wicketkeeper who really can deliver. i believe Kamran Akmal is useful oneday and t20 player but his performance has always been questionable in the test cricket format. chance should be given to players who have the skill, character and the urge to win matches for Pakistan.
No doubt Kamran Akmals wicket keeping is far below any form of cricket yet he keeps his place in the team as a wicket keeper, his batting skills are useful only in limited overs games but again he is not a specialist opening batsman who you can rely on to use an opener in neither limited overs or test cricket.When you see him doing blunders after blunders as a wicket keeper costing matches one wonders Is Kamran Akmal the only wicketkeeper in entire Pakistan , no body else can keep wickets besides him. Its a tragedy how the PCB and Pakistan selectors give blessings to a poor cricketer like Kamran Akmal and many others, PCB is following example of Pakistan Hockey federation how they destroyed Pakistans glory in hockey.
Mr. Kamran Akmal’s recnt wicket keeping is causing more upsets to Pakistan Team then opponents batting or bowling.
Kamran Akmal is not a Test class keeper. His batting is also questionable on bouncy wickets, particulary in Test matches.
Looking at recent Australia Test Series and current English Test match his keeping and batting both are below standard.
He should himself take some time off to improve his keeping techniques under Rashid Latif or Moen Khan, as well as his batting on bouncy wickets. Certainly he needs thorough coaching other wise in future we will see more Sydney Test results.
Kamran Akmal a specialist batsman! Oh God the kind of form he is in and the way he has been throwing away his wicket he does not deserve to be in the team. He has not only cost us test matches but also test series’s from Pakistan’s tour to England 2006 to trent bridge test he has been a liability with the gloves, I agree he has played some good knocks but that has got nothing to do with his glove work.
I think he is too fat and static to be a wicket keeper, time to introduce fresh blood in the side, if we do loose I would prefer to loose after giving exposure to some youngsters.
i don’t understand why we reach conclusions so early whenever a change is tried. Sarfaraz was given chance for a too little time to judge anything.
more improtantly we are wasting a top class batsman by making him think more of keeping than batting. Kamran Akmal is technically the best batsman that pakistan has produced after Inzimam and he has proved it multiple times. If Salman But, imran farhat, shoaib malik can play as regular batsmen why not Kamran Akmal. Kamran should play as batsman only and should be batting at No:4 in this team.
drop him from the team and give chance to the youngsters.
i dont know whats the problem with PCB may be with Ijaz Butt, they are not allowing Younas Khan and Mohammad Yousaf But those players who are not scoring they are in the Team especially Shoiab Malik and Kamran Akmal.
atleast check the Australian tour result of both these players
regards
Akbar
Kamran Akmal has been a key batsmen for us and there is no doubt about it. Now, he’s counted as one of the senior most batsmen as well. My take is that he should be dropped from the tests at least as a keeper. Most of this poor performances as a keeper has been in test form of cricket.
Drop Kamran. Bring a new keeper (Zulqarnain Haider is with the team, aint he? or even Sarfaraz). And we shd definitely have better batsmen than Kamran to play as specialists. Bring in Yasser – Fawad Alam. Bring Younis and Yousuf back. Have Aamer bat at 7 and let Sarfarz bat at 8. If you are dropping Kamran, drop him completely for a series – and yes, please – DROP him or he will keep dropping Pakistan!!!
Both these brothers need to be dropped from the test side immediately and their performance be examined in the other formats and their re-placements readied. How long and how many more matches does Pakistan team need to loss before the management realize this point. This is a failure on behalf of all the stake holders concerned with Pakistani cricket. The akmal bros represent lack of disciple, consistency, focus and commitment. With their performance alone they have no place in the team.
I don’t agree with you guys at all regarding Kamran Akmal. The only reason AK is in team because we don’t really have a replacement at the moment. He was okay against Aussies in England, we can’t just drop him even though right now I hate his game. He is always under the pump by people, we should let him keep playing for now unill we find better keeper/batsman
Not only Kamran Akmal alongwith his younger brother but also Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria should be packed and sent home once and for all.
The idea of using Kamran as Middle Order will further harm Pakistani Cricket as was evident from hid Batting Performance against Australia and England.
Both brothers don’t know how to cope up with Swing and exihibit the street cricket approach.
They can’t be called Batsmen if they don’t know where is there off stump.
Finally we have started talking about Kamran Akmal issue. And by the way that question is not valid that “Replacing Kamran Akmal with who?”. This keeper proved us that anything but Kamran Akmal will do!!!
Kamran Akmal did a lot of damage to Pakistan cricket especially test cricket. Had i been bowling and seen my keeper droped an easy catch i would’ve walked out the ground right that moment and i would not come back until i get a new keeper for my bowling.
we saw kamran akmal dropping catches and pakistan lost the match the match in sydney,and now see it again his poor wicketkeepin,and in australia tour inquiry it was reported that he and some other players had suspicious activities and met suspicious people,and few days back in uk tour it was published again about some players meetin suspicious people again.if the board can choose to drop out worldclass batsmen like mohd yousaf and mohd younus just for minor disciplinary problems which has not been proved as yet,why cant kamran akmal be dropped and sarfaraz ahmed or anyone else be given a chance.and if younger brother chooses to stay out too let it be as we have no shortage of talents,but we cant to afford to lose a match just on account of kamrans poor performance.we hope the board knows how much yousaf and younus r being missed on this tour.it took years to groom them and when the whole world recognisd their true potential ,our board drops them just like that
Kamran is played for his batting, but everytime he drops guys like Kallis, Strauss, Hussey, Morgan, etc. they score far more than he can with his 32 run average. Plus it completely demoralises the team and makes the work of the bowler much harder if they have to effectively get 12-13 wickets due to his errors.
I really like watching him bat but he is a disaster as a Test keeper. Play him in ODI and T20s only
If you want to go by the question who let us down in this test match, then the answer is “our batsmen”. Next question: “Do we drop them all? Are they not a complete liability and disgrace?” Yes, they are, but you dont go changing the team every match. One has to preservere with what you have and give them the confidence they need. Kamran kept wickets well in the match we won against Australia. Our batsmen also performed. But the bowlers, specially the seamers are the pick of our side. Have patience, if our batsmen start clicking we could even draw this match or might even win it. Keep your fingers and toes crossed.
Sarfaraz ahmad is the answer. He should practice batting with good players for 8 hours a day almost everyday and should be able to give time for kAkmal to rest.
Also, try new wicket keepers. For bowler, show them movies of Mushtaq, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Asif Iqbal and also Afridi who also became good batsmen. All they need is practice against the best bowlers like Pindi express and all other experienced one. Use them to build up Pakistan XI and not individual personalities.
Guy showed some success. Akmal is only human and needs rest. He is not young anymore, this is the best time to use yonger players. Not that it has to done by denouncing others who have been heros too. All heros are human – Body helps so far.
Regards
I men Gul showed some success. Where are Abdur Razzak, Younus, and of-course Mohammed Yousef. I saw one indian player scored a duble century and Yousef no where less on crease.
It is sad not to use the best players because of any reasons. Once on the field they are all playing for the flag. Captain should not matter. But Captain should be able to ask for opinions from the experienced x-captains.
There is a collection of super players around.
Regards
Out……..he should go and wait till he regains form. He is no specialist batsman for test cricket.
kamran is averaging 32 in tests and that is not the average of a TEST batsman, look at the averages of english batsmen or australian or srilankan or indian batsmen and see yourself. You can use cricinfo stats for it.
Thanks.
What happened to players from Karachi? Karachi produces some fine players, have people forgotten, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Waseem Bari, Tauseef Ahmad, Iqbal Qasim, Haneef Mohammad and his brothers, and many others.
Abu Idrees
I agree. The names note where a class players – except the Hanif Mohamed and bros, especially Sadik.
I believe Saeed Ahmed was from there as well?
Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Pehsawar or Quetta – where the player comes from shouldn’t matter – as long as he is good. I remember A H Kardar selecting a very young Javed Miandad for the England tour and Javed played so well that Tony Grieg immediately offered him a place in his County side. When a player applies his talent to the game he becomes a National Treasure.
Kamran Akmal and his brother Umar Akmal should both be dropped for test matches, and also Danish Kaneria. Bring in Mohammad Yousuf, Saeed Ajmal and a new wicket keeper
Kamran Akmal’s test average is 32. He’s also never hit a hundred outside the subcontinent in tests.
well, akmal is not a good batsman either, so whats the talk of playing him as batsman?
we already have two or three “Purchees” in the team as “Specialist Batsman” like Malik, Farhat, Azhar and AMin. We can’t afford another so called “Batsman”.
Remove both big brother and younger brother, and play them only in t20. They aren’t a test material.
He is liability right now for the team because haven’t you heard the old saying, “catches win matches” he has cost us this match to in the long list of other matches and i am not big fan of his batting ability either, why people think him as a great batsman, because he is simply a flat track bully nothing else. He never scored runs outside the continent and against the formidable opponent and simply his average tells the story. we need new wicketkeeper and i don;t care if younger akmal brother fakes the injury drop him too, first of all he hasn’t proven that he has the test temperament and other nothing comes before you then your country you play for your country not yourself or your brother or family. It doesn’t mean your brother keeps dropping catches and costing Pakistan matches and we keep playing him, it is about time we need to drop him for good, because he had more than his fair share of opportunities , he has flaws in his technique as wicketkeeper and as batsman which he never corrected in last decade how he is going to correct or fix that now. it is never happening, bring young talent and give others opportunity, if you are really sincere with Pakistan then he needs to go and his brother too until they prove otherwise. His brother is liability batting at no 6 in test, one day and T20 is other game, where you can get away with bad technique because both those types of games are mostly played on dead wickets where he can throw his bat at anything. Test cricket needs mature mind, dedication, technique, temperament and class, which you can bring back in form of yousuf or even any new person, give someone else chance can’t just keep these brothers giving chances on the base of just one or two good innings. We need consistency.
” Pakistan zindabad”
He should be dropped and a specialist keeper should be played in his place. I dont think he has the technique or the record to merit a spot for his batting prowess only.
But he has cost us this match for sure! No stumpings, no catches and now no runs!