Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi hinted that wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal may be replaced by his younger brother Umar Akmal in their remaining matches of the ICC World Cup 2011.
Afridi stated, “We have five days now before our next game, so whatever is better for the team we will try it.” However, the Pakistani captain didn’t doubt the commitment from the troubled wicketkeeper.
He added, “If you see him train, he puts in a lot of hard work. I don't know why but luck has deserted him. He is also upset about his performance [against New Zealand] and he realizes it too.”
Pakistan lost to New Zealand in their match yesterday by a massive margin of 110 runs. The main reason for the loss was an unbeaten 131 runs off 124 balls from Ross Taylor, who helped his team score 102 runs in the last five overs.
However, Taylor didn’t achieve this feat without luck favouring him. He was given two chances by Kamran, who dropped him on 0 and 4. Both chances came off the bowing of veteran fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.
This was not the first time that Kamran had let his team down in this tournament. Earlier, he missed two stumping chances of Kumar Sangakkara in a match against Sri Lanka. The unlucky bowler on that occasion was left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman.
However, Pakistan went on to win that match by a narrow margin of 11 runs, and Kamran’s performance did not affect the outcome of that match.
Waqar Younis, who is head coach of the Pakistan cricket team, was also not happy with the glove work of Kamran. However, Waqar claimed that it would not be a suitable thing to pressurise the player during the tournament, but he added that Kamran's future would be decided once the mega event is over.
The men-in-green will have to rethink their strategies and team combination as soon as possible, as they are left with just two matches before the start of the knock-out stages.
Pakistan will play Zimbabwe on the 14th of March, and Australia on the 19th of the same month. The team will be hoping to get back to winnings ways ahead of the quarterfinals.
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