Kamran Akmal's debut in International Cricket

Kamran Akmal made his debut as an young 20 year old despite the presence of some veterans. He is an explosive batsman who can make some quick runs coming down the order or by opening the innings. He has proved time and again that he can bat sensibly in crunch situations as well. But his constant poor show with the gloves cost him his place from the side. Kamran Akmal has two more brothers Umar and Adnan and both are wicket-keepers just like him, or we can say Umar was forced in to keeping in order to accomodate an extra batsman or a bowler. For the last 10 years, apart from Zulqarnain Haider and Sarfraz Ahmed, nobody has breached the Akmal dynasty behind the wickets for Pakistan.

Kamran Akmal cropped up as the third contender for the place behind the wickets after the constant switching between Moin Khan and Rashid Latif. Selectors gave him a chance ahead of the seniors against Zimbabwe to make his debut for Pakistan in the first Test on Nov. 9, 2002. He scored 0 and 38 in the first Test but after that he scored a half century in the second match. He also made his ODI debut in the ODI series followed by the Test series. He also toured South Africa with the team but later he was dropped post the ODI series against Bangladesh after some unimpressive performances but he was again picked up in the squad for the series against India where he played the last two Tests of the series replacing the injured Moin Khan.

After that inspite of some average performances with the bat, selectors made it clear that they are looking forward to Akmal as a future prospect. His match saving innings of 109 came in 2005 against India at Mohali and after that a terrific season in 2006 he became an integral part of the team. But still he is always under scrutiny for his poor glovework. He often misses chances on regular occassions and many a times looked stuck and unmoved behind the wickets. He was dropped after a poor display behind the wickets when he dropped four catches against Australia in the Sydney Test during Pakistan’s 2009-10 tour of Australia.