Dynamite kid ready to explode

One innings from Umar Akmal can change everything, say his coach. He can win the game in ten overs

George Binoy in Kuala Lumpur28-Feb-2008
The highly-rated Umar Akmal hasn’t quite set the World Cup on fire yet © Faras Ghani
While scrolling down the Pakistan team list, the name Akmal is impossibleto miss for it’s right on top. The obvious question follows, is he the Pakistan wicketkeeperKamran’s brother? Indeed he is. Umar, the youngest of the Akmal brothers,has had a quiet Under-19 World Cup but has a reputation as a fearsome striker of the ball.Just ask England or Sri Lanka against whom he scored 269 runs in sixmatches in a tri-series before the World Cup or the bowlers of KarachiBlues against whom Umar smashed 248 – 215 in a day – in the Quaid-e-Azamtrophy in 2007-08. Akmal scored 855 runs in his maiden first-class seasonin Pakistan and it’s just one of the reasons his coach Mansoor Ranaand Ijaz Ahmed, the fielding coach, have so much praise for him.”One innings from Umar can change everything,” Rana said. “He candemolish, he can win the game in ten overs.”That destructive ability hasn’t been on view in Malaysia. Umar was dismissed for single-digit scores in the group matches and he made 17 in the quarter-final against Australia. Histechnique against Australia did not impress, he backed away to good length balls and tried to hit towards cover or moved across his stumps and attempted to pull through midwicket. Rana, however, insisted that the innings was an aberration rather than the norm.”Only in the previous game against Australia did Umar play across theline, otherwise he plays straight,” Rana said. “That innings was unlikehim. Maybe he was excited because of the television coverage; perhaps hegot carried away on a good pitch after the seaming tracks in Johor.”Those are indications that Umar still has a long way to go to mature intoa rounded batsman; after all he is only 17. Rana even sees a bit of ShahidAfridi in Umar.”What ever you tell Afridi, he will keep nodding and saying yes. I askUmar ‘what is your plan?’ He says ‘I’ll bat for 50 overs’ and I startlaughing. When he gets out after scoring 40-50 off seven-eight overs Itell him there are still 40 overs to go. He says ‘that was my planMansoor but I don’t know what happens’.”Umar realises he’s been given a free hand to play his natural game,but even though his failures have been in Johor where the conditions weredifficult for batting he says the “bad pitches were no excuse”. His aim is to play an innings that “will make people forget the failures”.Rana and Ijaz haven’t tried to change Umar’s aggressive approach for thatis his USP. Instead they have encouraged him by asking him to open, which hedoesn’t do at first-class level, and urged him to show discretion in shot selection.”I want him to play shots but once you hit a four or a six you need toblock to keep the good balls out,” Rana said. “The reason he is opening isso that he can take advantage of an open field. He doesn’t look at wherethe fielders are. Even if long-off and long-on are deep and you give him aflighted ball he’ll take it as a challenge and will try to hit.”Umar has one, possibly two more innings, to show a worldwide TV audiencewhat he can do. His role is pivotal for depending on how he fares, Pakistan could either get off to a flier against South Africa in the semi-final, or lose a very early wicket.