Umar Should Have Been Treated Differently: Kamran Akmal

Zeeshan Mehtab Published June 30, 2020 | 02:51 PM

Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal believes Umar Akmal, should have been treated in a different manner by the team management, as to keep the latter out of controversies

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2020 ) :Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal believes Umar Akmal, should have been treated in a different manner by the team management, as to keep the latter out of controversies.

Kamran compared Umar's case with former cricketers like Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar.

"Off the field activities in nothing new in Pakistan cricket. Team management and captain should know how to deal with such players. Look at the way Inzamam ul Haq handled Shoaib, Muhammad Asif and Afridi. If the same was done with Umar, things had turned out differently," cricketpakistan.com.pk quoted Kamran as saying.

The Lahore-born also revealed that he was intentionally kept out of the national side, despite good performance in domestic cricket.� "I have been performing in domestic cricket and Pakistan Super League (PSL) during the last five years but despite that I have not been given a chance to play for Pakistan," he said.

"In the recent past, couple of coaches did not like me which is why I remained on the sidelines. It's unfair to keep me out of the Test and T20 side, especially, because I can play solely as a batsman. If Matthew Wade can make a comeback with an average of 18-20, why not me who averages nearly 60," he said.

He also urged the selectors to pick players on basis of performance in domestic cricket rather than just the PSL while also drawing parallels with Indian Premier League (IPL).

"Players are selected on performance in PSL, while those have been doing well in domestic cricket are ignored. That's is not how you make good teams. If India started doing this, they would have the entire team selected from IPL.""Tournaments like IPL and PSL are good for exposure and confidence but the performances that count come from four-day cricket," he said.