Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has reportedly expressed that wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal is not the only the one responsible for their disappointing defeat in the group match against New Zealand on Monday, March 8, at Pallekele.Kamran Akmal had a dismal display in the match against New Zealand. He ended up dropping two regulation catches in the same over, which would have sent Taylor back to the pavilion. These were costly mistakes as Taylor went on to score 131 not out. The missed catches also seemed to bring down the morale of the rest of the team as Pakistan started imploding miserably.
The bowling line-up ended up giving away more than 100 runs in the last five overs. The batting line-up didn't do much better either as the openers gave an unimpressive start to a lackluster batting show.
Afridi added that Kamran would not be forced out of the team at this point, as it would disturb the momentum of the team in the ICC World Cup 2011. He stated, “Kamran has done a lot of hard work for this World Cup, but he has not lived up to that level, and we suffered a lot after he couldn’t perform.”
The Pakistan captain did appreciate Akmal's previous performances and admitted that the keeper was a match winner.
Nevertheless, the captain said that despite Akmal’s poor performance, the team and cricket gurus should cheer him up instead of pointing fingers at him as that would only serve to hurt his confidence more.
Afridi added that he was not sure whether Kamran would play the next match against Zimbabwe on March 8, at Pallekele. But he insisted that the stumper should be given a chance to prove his standing in the tournament, as he is a very talented player.
The veteran all-rounder is of the view that the team will regroup immediately for their next group match against Zimbabwe. He stated, “Because of the way we have batted, bowled and fielded everyone should get angry but then we have to forget this anger and we should have confidence for the next match.”
Afridi also impressed upon the openers, Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad to find form soon as their poor performance was putting unnecessary pressure on the middle-order. Also, although he termed the openers 'perfect' for the job, Afridi didn't rule out the possibility of opening with Kamran Akmal in the future matches.
