Reports: Kamran Akmal likely to make a surprise comeback into Pakistan team
Mercurial wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal is on the threshold of returning to the Pakistan national team after more than two years. The 34-year old’s name is reportedly in serious contention to board the plane to Australia.
He had met Pakistan’s Chief Selector Inzamam ul Haq in Karachi on Sunday during which his fitness levels, as well as the feasibility to play as a specialist batsman, were keenly discussed.
“Kamran, who last played in April, 2014 for Pakistan, is set to earn a recall for the one-day series in Australia in January”, a source was quoted as saying by PTI. Interestingly, his meeting with Inzamam was also intended to clarify a statement that he had given earlier.
A few days back, Kamran had publicly appealed to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to look into his case as he felt that the selection committee was not giving him his due. The right-hander has been in stellar form in the current season of Quaid-e-Azam trophy (Pakistan’s premier domestic competition) with five centuries and three half-centuries.
In an interview with Dawn, he had claimed, “I strongly feel that I am being ignored even after so many good performances in domestic cricket. I want the selectors to consider me purely as a batsman as I realise fully well that Sarfraz Ahmed is performing outstandingly as wicket keeper. I, therefore, appeal to the Prime Minister to hear me out and ask the selectors to consider my case on merit.”
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“For a batsman, the only way to make a comeback is his performance and I have been doing that by scoring a lot of runs to merit selection. I had met PCB COO Subhan Ahmed before coming to Hyderabad and now awaiting a call from PCB.
“Lets see what they say. Those who don’t perform must be dropped from the national team. I don’t want to name those players, the selectors know who they are but they are being persisted with,” he added.
Kamran burst onto the international arena in 2002 an attacking wicket-keeper batsman and subsequently made rapid strides in the Pakistan team. However, his glove work began to deteriorate during the latter half of the decade which forced the selectors to look for alternative options. After making numerous comebacks, he was eventually discarded with his previous international appearance coming during the 2014 World T20.
He has played 53 Tests, 154 ODIs as well as 54 T20Is with a combined tally of more than 6000 runs across all formats. In ODIs alone, the Lahore-born cricketer has scored 3168 runs at an average of 26.18 with five tons and ten fifties.
While the Test format seems to be too far a bridge to cross at the moment, Kamran is likely to be included in Pakistan’s squad for the 5-match ODI series in Australia which is set to begin from January 13th at Brisbane.