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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He is proving to be a liability for Pakistan in test matches. But the problem is both with Pakistan Cricket Board that he is not being dropped courtesy of the reasons best known to the Board and the poor morality displayed by Mr. Akmal for not stepping down from his role as wicket keeper and allowing to chance to someone better than him. He should emulate the great Gilchrist who resigned even on his peak. Legendary Muralithurn is another example. But unfortunately these acts are a rare commodity in Pakistan.
Specialist batsman!! That’s an understatement or wishful thinking I think for this gentleman called Kamran Akmal. Morality, discipline and self consciousness, team spirit, sincerity to the nation is too far away from people like Ejaz Butt and Kamran Akmal!!! Why it is that only 1 and the same hopeless/useless wicketkeeper is picked every time and that also when he is not performing!! Why!! Just cause the chairman likes people who like buttering!!
It is a known fact that Kamran has been involved in various misconducts which include inciting players again each other and also inciting hatred against Yousuf & Younus among the players.
These type of people are even lower than the word “Baigharat” in Urdu. Just imagine what they have done to our Greats, Younus and Yousuf! Look at India, the way they treat their legends, for e.g. Tendulkar. He doesn’t perform in every match but still he is a class act and is treated with respect. It doesn’t mean if you don’t perform in couple of matches you become redundant!! Wake up people! Look at their contribution to the nation, this attitude of PCB and its so called Chairman reminds me of the way another Pakistani legend Saeed Anwar was treated which forced him to retire from Pakistan cricket at a time when he was at his peak.
I don’t what revolution will bring changes to our PCB and remove the aging baba jee chairman who has come with a glue and may feel as it is his utmost right and privilege to hold the chairman’s seat with both hands and legs!!
Anyhow, Guys my last statement for the day, Only Allah can save our nation from such handicapped management and chairman. Not forgetting our very own the most professional wicketkeeper in the world called Kamran Akmal.
akmal is way too heavily built for a keeper, wicket keepers must be lean and nimble footed, someone in the mould of craig kreiswetter of England or Tim Paine of Australia. Akmal may be a better batsman compared to Sarfraz but the latter is younger and a better wicket keeper
I think that even though his keeping isn’t up to scratch, there are no other suitable wicketkeeper/batsmen at the moment. A good idea would be to play him as a specialist batsman and bring in a specialist keeper in place of Shoaib Malik- who frankly hasn’t done anything since the champions trophy to show he deserves to retain his place in the team.
I am with you Jonny.
Kamran is good for ODIs and T20 (might be) but for Test they need new one. Already they put new players, then why not a wicketkeeper.
Ha Ha Ha and Shoaib Mailk will be THE BEST ONE.
when was the last time he scored a fifty or a hundred? i don’t remember it. but his fumbles have definitely cost Pakistan matches. Just not Sydney, it goes way back to 2006 England trip.
I accept that sometimes Kamran Akmal (KA) not give his 100% but it dosen’t mean that he is not a good player.
dont be “Back Seat Driver”.
You are playing for National team and you are not giving 100%. Shame on you.
Its not about giving 100%.We cannt afford to be giving chances after chances and he never was a great wicket keeper and never will be but how come he is not good with bat and also i dont want to say anything off the subject but how come his brother cannt bat either at the same time.we use to have the best wicket keepers in the world but now we are left with Kamran akmal.We need a wicket keepers who is more responsible and if he cannt perform well with the gloves, he should take some responsibility and try and bat well.If really cares about Pakistan,he should quit himself.sorry i dont mean to offend anyone its just an oppinion.
if u dont give your 100% then he should not be in the team.he miss easy catches and stump chances.never been good behind the stumps much less taking excellent catches or stump chances.forget the sydney match only talk about this match. he could have catch strauss when he had i think 10 runs, he scored 45. 35 runs difference and the pressure is released.then collingwood stumping. he scored almost 40 runs extra because of that chance. plus the moral of the team go down. and batting he scored only a big fat zero.we need a good keeper like sarfarz who can turn the match on its head by his keeping.i think he can score 20 runs too
he rarely gives 100%. he hasn’t caught as many catches as he has dropped. so please lets give a chance to someone else. enough is enough!
We all have a consensus that the benefit, if at all, Kamran Akmal brings from his batting (sometimes), is far outweighed than the easy misses and the costly mistakes that he does with his wicket keeping. The key question is, are we happy to let Kamran keep the wickets at the cost of loosing critical matches which also ends up demotivating the bowlers and the fielder? We definitely need to have a succession plan, Shoaib Malik is currently out of form and low on confidence, we can include Sarfaraz / or any budding keeper (vetted by Rashid Latif, Salim Yousuf on his techniques), and let K. Akmal play as a specialist batsman. Surely his talent as a batsman is far greater that his keeping talent. Also his exclusion from the side creates disillusioning thoughts in his younger brother’s head, surely we cant afford that. Succession planning is the key.. Rashid Latif and Moin Khan used to give cut throat competition to one another, that is the reason either of those couldn’t relax that his place is like a cemented block in the side.
we should have reserve players good enough that if we get them in they perform. we dont have no pressure on the players on the team. they think they score one hundred they can play for at least two years. who ever dont perform get him out of the team. no body is bigger than the game and pakitan.we cant do much worse we loose test matches like there is no tomorrow.simple u dont perform u are out.
Kamran Akmal is not doing up to the mark and at times not acceptable at all but like other players in our team is very tallented. It is the job of the coach to find out and correct the techniques of not only Kamran but of the other players’ too. Our batsmen and bowlers do need a lot of good coaching and specially in catching and fielding we lack a lot. Just dropping a player and bringing in another one will never improve our standard to a world class team.
Kamran Akmal should immediately be removed from test cricket. He may continue in 50/50 & 20/20 cricket.
Yousuf’s inclusion in test matches is must as a world class middle order batsman. I think Sulman Butt, whose own position in the team is doubtful, has gone out of his mind after his first win as a captain. I doubt if he be able to continue. Yousuf made a blunder to get crazy for getting captain ship during last Australian tour after his previous failure, at the cost of his cricket. He should have learnt some lesson from Sachin Tandulkar.
It is in the best interest of the game to immediately fire Ijaz Butt and his party currently running the cricket affairs in the country.