New Delhi: Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has been criticised by many for trying to influence the team strategy in his favour by requesting the former Pakistan captain Imran Khan to put in a word to the team management to send him up in the batting order.
Though Akmal’s approach created a furor in Pakistan and some even wanted him to be benched for the next match, Imran himself felt that Akmal should be sent up the order saying that he is the only batsman in the current Pakistan side who has the talent to match Virat Kohli.
“Yes, he came to me. And I also requested (the team management) to send him up the order. Unfortunately, the match was reduced to 18 overs and then we started badly. Our team couldn’t recover,” Imran said on ABP News’ special show Vishwa Vijeta.
Imran was invited by the team management to meet the Pakistan players for a pep talk before the crucial match against India at the Eden Gardens on Saturday. Akmal took the opportunity and asked Imran to tell the captain (Shahid Afridi) to send him to bat in the top order.
TV channels showed footage of Umar talking about it to Imran and the former great than turning around and telling someone that Umar should be sent to bat up the order.
“I personally feel that Umar Akmal should bat up,” Imran said.
“In Pakistan (cricket team), he is the only batsman who has the potential to match Virat Kohli… he plays along the ground and scores freely on both sides of the wicket. So if he is batting, runs will keep coming. It is in team’s interest that such a batsman goes up the order. It will give him more overs to bat and, consequently, more runs will be scored. That’s the simple logic,” he added.
Akmal batted at No. 4 against India and scored 22 runs from 16 ball before getting out to Ravindra Jadeja.
After the reports of Akmal’s approach came out, another former skipper Ramiz Raza said, “I am very angry with Umar’s behavior. Whenever he meets with a former great, he ends up talking about having his batting order changed. My heart says that for his behavior Umar should be sat out in the next match,” Ramiz told a Pakistan news channel.
“Teams are never selected in such manner,” the former captain lamented.
A reliable source in the Pakistan Cricket Board told PTI that Chairman Shaharyar Khan, who is present in Kolkata, had not taken kindly to Umar’s antics and had spoken to the team management about the incident in front of cameras.