Umar Akmal

Full Name             : Umar Akmal 

Date of Birth         : 26th May 1990

Place of Birth        : Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan 

Batting Style         : Right Hand Bat 

Role                     : Batsman 

Umar Akmal is a Pakistani cricketer.  Umar Akmal  made his ODI debut on 1 August 2009 against Sri Lanka and made his Test debut against New Zealand on 23 November 2009.

Personal Life

Umar is the youngest brother of Adnan Akmal and Kamran Akmal who are also cricketers. While his brothers are specialistwicket keepers, he is a right-handed batsman and a part time spinner.  Umar Akmal  can also keep wicket - in recent times he has kept wicket for Pakistan in the shorter forms of the game.

Early Career

Umar represented Pakistan in the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia. After his success at the U-19 level he earned himself a first class contract and played the 2007-08 season of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, representing the Sui Southern Gas team.  Umar Akmal  is considered a future asset for Pakistan cricket.  Umar Akmal  is an aggressive style cricketer. In only his sixth first class match he smashed 248 off just 225 deliveries, including four sixes.  Umar Akmal  followed that up with an unbeaten 186 in his 8th first class match, off just 170 balls.  Umar Akmal  fared less well in his second season of first class cricket, with a string of low scores batting at number 3.  Umar Akmal  found form in the final few matches of the 2008/09 season and then in the RBS T20 tournament thus getting the selectors nod to play for Pakistan A side on their tour to Australia A.

Australia A tour Umar came to prominence during the Australia A tour in June/July 2009. In the two Test matches he recorded scores of 54, 100*, 130, 0. In the ODI series that followed Umar continued his fine form with a century in the opening ODI encounter off just 68 deliveries. These performances made him gather considerable praise from the media who were there to witness him and calls began to grow about his inclusion in the ODI series for the main Pakistan side against Sri Lanka.

Test Career 

Umar Akmal at the University Oval in 2009.Umar made his Test debut against New Zealand at Dunedin on 23 November 2009. On the third day of his debut test, Umar Akmal hit 129 runs from 160 balls becoming only the second Pakistani to score a hundred on debut away from home after Fawad Alam. This feat also made him the first Pakistani batsman to score both his maiden Test and ODI century away from home, following his ODI century against Sri Lanka. The innings was noted as special due to Pakistan's tough position in the match and the hundred partnership which Akmal was involved in alongside his elder brother Kamran.  Umar Akmal  followed up the century in the first innings with a fifty in the second innings.

In only his second Test match he was moved up the order to the crucial spot of number 3, where he struggled initially but managed to counter-attack the hostile bowling with his natural flair, making 46 before he was undone by an inswinger by Daryl Tuffey. In the second innings he was moved down the order to his usual batting spot of number 5 as captain Mohammed Yousuf chose to bat at number 3 himself, and Akmal looked his usual aggressive self throughout his innings of 52 which came off only 33 balls.  Umar Akmal  had his first failure in the first innings of the third test at Napier where he was caught in the gully for a duck but scored a rearguard 77 in the second, promoting him to the leading run scorer of the series. Akmal finished the tour with 400 runs at an average of 57.14.

ODI and Twenty20 Career

In an interview, Umar said "My own dream is to one day play for Pakistan alongside Kamran Bhai (Brother) and I'm working hard to try and achieve that goal". Akmal was selected in Pakistan's squad for the One Day International Series against Sri Lanka in July/August 2009. Having missed out on the first ODI Umar made his debut in the second match of the series replacing Mohammad Yousuf in the middle order. In only his second career ODI Umar scored his maiden ODI fifty. Umar followed up his maiden fifty by scoring a century in the very next match. For this match winning effort he was awarded his first career Man of the Match award. Umar Akmal  exploits in Sri Lanka earned him a place in Pakistan's champions trophy squad.  Umar Akmal  played two good innings.  Umar Akmal   41 not out against West Indies was a match winning knock and landed him his second career Man of the Match award. 

Umar Akmal  next big innings came in the semi final against New Zealand, where he scored a brisk 55 in a losing effort, before he was wrongly given out by umpire Simon Taufel, who later apologized.Despite the fact that Umar Akmal is not a wicket-keeper he kept wicket for Pakistan temporarily in the third ODI against England in 2010 from the 27th Over onwards because his elder brother Kamran was being diagnosed for an injury to his finger. Umar Akmal cracked 71 runs in 52 balls including 8 boundaries and 1 six in his debut World Cup match, he was also announced Player Of the match.

Twenty20 International Fifties Twenty20 

International 50's of Umar Akmal 

#    Runs   Match    Against               City/Country Venue Year 

[1]  56*       3            New Zealand       Dubai, UAE DSC Cricket Stadium 2009 Won 

[2]  51       11            South Africa        Gros Islet, St. Lucia Beausejour Stadium 2010 Won 

[3]  56*    12             Australia             Gros Islet, St. Lucia Beausejour Stadium 2010 Lost 

[4]  64      13             Australia             Birmingham, England Edgbaston 2010 Won 

Controversy

Umar Akmal's early success was briefly tarnished by a controversy during Pakistan's 2009-10 tour of Australia. It was widely reported that Umar had feigned an injury to protest the dropping of older brother Kamran for the final Test match against Australia. Umar denied such rumors and played in the final match without his brother.  Umar Akmal  was later fined 2-3 million rupees by the PCB for breaching his contract and speaking to the media without approval.