Akmal surprising Pakistan - JANG

Jang News

MANCHESTER: Wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal’s unconvincing showing in the opening two Tests against England has put the Pakistan team management under extra pressure.

Kamran, tested as an opener at Old Trafford last week, flopped miserably in that role and could just get eight runs from his two outings in the second Test. But more than his batting woes, it is his performance behind the stumps that has put a question mark on the player’s form and has bewildered the team officials.

Pakistan have come to England on this marathon tour with just one specialist gloveman as the team officials ignored the national selection committee’s advice to take along a substitute wicket-keeper on the trip that include four Tests, five One-day Internationals (ODIs) and several side games. Zulqarnain Haider was singled out as the reserve wicket-keeper and there was this option for the team management to take him to England as an understudy of Kamran.

But the team management decided to keep faith in just Kamran who was in superb form at home and abroad during the last few seasons — both with the bat and behind the stumps. The idea was to shield Kamran from any extra pressure which the team management thought could be posed by having an extra wicket-keeper in the touring party.

But the management may now be regretting that decision. Kamran did well with the bat in the drawn Test at Lord’s but was very unconvincing behind the stumps. His performance dipped further at Old Trafford where he had outings of 4 and 4 as an opener and was unable to collect the ball behind the stumps on several occasions. Kamran’s lack of form has been a huge setback for Pakistan who are currently without several of their strike bowlers here because each time he drops a catch or allows unnecessary byes off the bowling of pacers like Mohammad Sami or Umar Gul who are already running low on confidence, it further dents their morale.

“Kamran’s less than satisfactory form has really taken us by surprise,” admitted Pakistan manager Zaheer Abbas while talking to ‘The News’. “He is such a good wicket-keeper and a prolific batsman but so far he has been far from his best here in England,” added the former Test batsman.

According to Zaheer Kamran himself is unable to tell what has gone wrong with his form. “The boy is clueless. He has been unable to give a neat showing behind the stumps so far and that is really hurting him,” said Zaheer.

The manager said the only clear reason behind Kamran’s erratic showing is that he is yet to come to terms with the movement of the ball in England, saying, “Sometimes the ball nips in sharply after crossing the batsman and Kamran is finding it difficult to cope with the movement.”

The team officials have asked Kamran to make an extra effort to train ahead of the Leeds Test starting from August 4. He was also seen training for long durations ahead of the second Test at Old Trafford but failed to show any improvement.

Kamran’s butter fingers could get worse once the world’s fastest bowler joins the Pakistan line-up sometimes later this month. Shoaib Akhtar is expected to make his Pakistan comeback in the fourth Test against England at The Oval from August 17 and there are fears that if Kamran cannot keep wickets properly with Sami, Umar or Abdul Razzaq bowling, then he could be in more trouble when Shoaib returns to hurl his 100-mph missiles.

However, Zaheer allayed such fears saying that Kamran would surely do better at Leeds and Lord’s. “He (Kamran) is too good a player to play like this for too long. He is bound to improve in the coming matches,” he said.

he's been disappointing so far

He has been disappointing, But we need to back him up and I am sure he will be back to his best sooner than laterz

He has been disappointing but he's been a hero in the last 12 months or so. We should back him up. This article is just sensationalism

Pakistan dont play to much cricket every year but i have to say kamran looks jaded. Hes having to keep for long periods in field due to our powderpuff bowling and hes also had to play in all warm up games aswell. He seems a little stale.

hes still a quality keeper, just having a bad patch. Every keeper goes thru it!

I'd rather Akmal than Geraint Jones!

Sorry to repeat myself but He is having the problems all new wicketkeepers have when they come to England .The ball keeps moving all the way to the gloves so if you dont watch all the way you are in trouble .Mark Boucher had the same problem yet overcame it towards the end of his first tour

As I have said before - he has been found out. Over-hyped player.

And you are making this rediculous statement on basis of two games? What about last 23 games where he has been nothing short of outstanding with the gloves.

Nauman, no need to reply to this idiot's posts.

Its just a matter of time before he gets banned for good.

Dont know about Akmal..But I am sure you have been found out the time you wrote such a statement about Akmal.
Akmal is a good keeper and just had a couple of bad tests.

Akmal is a very good keeper/batsman.

He is just slightly out of form - he'll be back!

Not the first time we over-hype our players Im afraid. Asif was another one.

Still at the fact that they are still using the "getting used to the moving ball in England " excuse....


did you ever hear that before from any other nations wicket keeper when playing in England?

Akmal has never been overhyped, or hyped at all for that matter.

Quality keeper who is just going through a bad period. It happens to everyone, Akmal is just a human.

I think since his 'injury' in the warm up matches before the 1st test, he might be trying to avoiding any balls hitting his fingers therefore causing further injury, this may result in his poor wicketkeeping and batting. We are still unsure if he is 100% fit or not.

Also the fact that he is the lone wicketkeeper in the squad means the pressure on him is amplified even more.

I am sure you will do a better job than both of them

Akmal and Asif have been sensational finds for us

Akmal - Looks like he has a lot of technical flaws. These get exposed outside sub-continent.
Looks a third rate keeper and a worser batsman.

Asif - as I keep telling you Asif played for Ashcombe park 2 years ago and impressed no-body. Based on 3 tests we think we found the new Waqar Younis. His performances for Leics showed that theory to be slightly wrong. Another over-hyped geezer.

Nauman,

can u given green-machine worst post and quote of the week?

i think we shoudl reward best and worst posts everyweek!

An excellent keeper just having a few bad days. I don't want him out of the team or anything, just want him to come back down to number 8. He is a fantastic keeper and will find is form back. GM please just stop it...you can't find a keeper "out". I am not worried about his batting form at all, because I know as soon as he comes down to number 8, he'll hit a 50!

predict a breakthrough test for akmal

Erm, yes? Actually quite a common problem for keepers who don't have much experience of English conditions.

typical pakistani media, have a few bad games and you are just **it, Kamran has been the anchor of this team, his batting in the lower order has been far better than phenomenal, just a few months ago this same media was saying he was as good as or better than Adam Gilchrist
He has a few bad games and they butcher him. Give him a chance, he's young and is the future of Pakistan

i read this article on the news and my first impression was what a crappy article. kamran akmal ahs been great. and if he doesnt perorm well in 2 matches it doesnt mean that u start bitching about it i an article and give everyone an impression that had ther been a nother keeper, akmal would have been replced by now. let me assure u, even if we had a reserve keeper, akmal would have played the whole series. a piece of crap trying to be sensatinoal. kamran has been a much better keeper that moin khan ever was. and a much better batsman that rashid latif ever was. the writer of this article should have kept these things in mind.

and to add to that, he was used as the opener, which was one of the reasons for our por batting display. he is so good down the order. goes to show u how unreliable afridi and Abdul Razaq are. had akmal been at his usual position, the lower order would have been less brittle

o brother, here we go again. anyone who u think is not over hyped?

All these article & quotes from our Team management/PCB do is put Kamran Akmal under more pressure!

A classical player by the name......(drum rolls).......Green-Machine

He's having a bit of an extended nightmare nowadays, but its the sort of thing that happens. You only need to cast your mind a few months back when he was hitting match-winning centuries against England/India to remind yourself of his worth to the team. A purple patch followed by a dip. The old cliche about the sport being a great leveller springs to mind.

Still a good keeper....was never impressed by his batting,flawed technique..but he is a gutsy player,I like players who do well under pressure..akmal ,sure is one of them!

How can you be found out about wicket keeping? Does England put a chemcial in the air to distract him of some sort? What a ridiculious statement.

He is a good player that has had 2 bad tests with the gloves. Personally, I think he should be sacked, no wait, imprisoned. Actually, assasinated. India and England are but distant memories...