Pakistan Cricket Players Biography : Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal Biography

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Full name Umar Akmal
Born 26 May 1990 (age 23)
Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Batting style Right hand bat
Role Batsman

Umar Akmal (born 26 May 1990) is a Pakistani cricketer.
He made his ODI debut on 1 August 2009 against Sri Lanka
and made his Test debut against New Zealand on 23 November 2009.
He is a right-handed batsman and a part-time spinner. Like his
two brothers, Adnan and Kamran, Umar has kept wicket for the national team.
He was announced as a Franchise Player for the inaugural
Caribbean Premier League alongside Pakistani teammates
Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik

Personal life

Umar is the youngest brother of Adnan Akmal and Kamran Akmal
who are also cricketers, both wicket-keepers.

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. He is considered a future asset
for Pakistan cricket. He is an aggressive style cricketer.
In only his sixth first class match he smashed 248 off just
225 deliveries, including four sixes. He followed that up with
an unbeaten 186 in his 8th first class match, off just 170 balls.
He fared less well in his second season of first class cricket,
with a string of low scores batting at number 3. He 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, Dunedin, 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.
He 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.
He 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.
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. He was later fined 2-3 million rupees by the PCB for
breaching his contract and speaking to the media without approval.
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. His exploits in Sri Lanka earned him a place
in Pakistan's champions trophy squad. He played two good innings.
His 41 not out against West Indies was a match winning knock and
landed him his second career Man of the Match award. His 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 scored 71
runs from 52 balls in his debut World Cup match and was named
Man of the Match.In February 2012 Pakistan faced England in four
ODIs. Pakistan's brittle batting meant the team management chose
to play Umar as a wicket-keeper based on his batting, though his
brother Adnan was considered the better 'keeper. The result of
choosing the less accomplished glovesman was that in the first
two matches Umar Akmal missed opportunities to dismiss Ravi
Bopara and Alastair Cook early in their innings, and they
respectively went on to score a half-centuryand a century.

Health Issue

While he was playing for the Barbados Tridents, in the Caribbean
Premier League, he had to spend a night in hospital after he
suffered mild seizures. Following this, the PCB called him back
for a complete medical checkup and also dropped him from the
upcoming Zimbabwe tour. On 6 September 2013 he was cleared by a
neurologist, saying that the seizure was possibly due to a lack of sleep.