Pakistan’s hard-hitting young and aggressive middle order batsman Umar Akmal played a responsible innings on Saturday to steer into the Quarter-Finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 as Group A leaders at R Premadasa Cricket Stadium against the might of Australia.Chasing 177 runs for the famous victory, Pakistan were looking dented hard by Brett Lee at 142 for the loss of six wickets when Shahid Afridi once again played a brainless shot to gift his wicket away to the Aussies.
This was the time when Umar Akmal was looking good at one end but was in desperate need of a partner and Abdul Razzaq proved just the man to do the job with him.
The pair helped Pakistan cross the line and enter into the knockout stage as Group A leaders. Umar Akmal scored 44 runs from 59 balls on a wicket which wasn’t conducive for stroke-play. He hit four boundaries and a six.
In the end, Pakistan completed the target in 41 overs for the loss of six wickets but it was Umar Akmal who provided the impetus and very rightly was declared Man of the Match.
The Sports Encounter presents its cricket-crazy fans the highlights package, compiled by ESPNSTAR, show-casing the brilliant shots played by Umar Akmal.
