Pakistani Cricket Players Biography Wallpapers : Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal Biography

Kamran Akmal (born 13 January 1982) is a Pakistani cricketer who has played Tests, ODIs and T20Is for Pakistan as a wicket-keeper.He is a right-handed batsman. Akmal started his international career in November 2002 with a Test match which Pakistan won at Harare Sports Club.International career.

Personal life

Kamran Akmal comes from a large family, of which two of his brothers, Adnan Akmal and Umar Akmal, are also professional cricketers, the former being a keeper-batsman and the latter being a specialist batsman as well as part-time wicket-keeper. He married in 2006 and lives with his wife, Aaiza, and their daughter, Laiba. He is a graduate of Beaconhouse School System Garden Town, Lahore.

IPL career.

Akmal was signed on to the Rajasthan Royals, and played in the inaugural season of the IPL. He played five matches in the tournament, as wicket-keeper and top-order batsman, including the final of the tournament against the Chennai Super Kings. He took two catches in the first innings, however he was run out for six runs during the Royal's chase. The Royals went on to win the tournament after a thrilling finish. He did not play in 2009 because Pakistani players were not selected by any IPL teams to participate that season as a result of the tense atmosphere after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Profile

After Moin Khan and Rashid Latif, Kamran Akmal is the next talented wicketkeeper-batsman to represent Pakistan. He made his first-class debut at the age of 15 as a useful wicketkeeper and a hard-hitting opening batsman. After a string of good performances for Pakistan A, he earned his first international cap against Zimbabwe.A gritty character, Akmal is a useful batsman who can be moved around in the batting order. His keeping has been criticized but he has always taken the criticism as a stepping stone to improve. Initially, he was always chosen as an option in the absence of the regular keepers but with the Moin’s retirement and Latif out of contention, Akmal has become a full-fledged member of the team. He was not expected to play in the Tests, but made his debut - and chipped in with a handy 38 at Harare - when Rashid Latif suffered a recurrence of a long-standing back injury. Initially his opportunities were limited, most of his matches coming when Latif or Moin were unavailable - he was the substitution when Latif was suspended for five one-dayers against Bangladesh, and then again when Moin was injured for the last two Tests against India. However, from October 2004, with Latif out of favour and Moin no longer at his peak, Akmal became Pakistan's first-choice wicketkeeper.He began 2006 as he ended 2005; two hundreds against India and both, for varying reasons, were special. The first, at Lahore, was the fastest Test hundred by a wicketkeeper. The second, on a seaming first day green-top at Karachi, not only saved Pakistan from the depths of 39 for 6, eventually leading to a thumping win, but is unlikely to be forgotten by anyone who saw it. Since then, he has experienced a horrendously lean patch, culminating in a horror show in England and South Africa, where he shelled catches, fumbled takes and didn't score runs. As Pakistan toyed with the idea of resting him, he responded, improving his glove work enough to have a decent World Cup behind the stumps.

He has made 2648 runs in 53 Test matches with the help of six centuries, while in 137 ODIs, he has scored 2924 runs with the help of five centuries. In T20Is, he has scored 704 runs. As a wicket-keeper, he has dismissed 206, 169 and 52 batsmen in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively.

Wicket-keeping

Kamran Akmal has been constantly criticized for his lack of consistent wicket-keeping. After another horrendous series behind the stumps against Sri Lanka in January 2009 journalists and former players called for his removal from the national team His wicket-keeping steadily improved, with a very strong showing in the 2009 T20 World Cup, including a world-record performance of four stumpings in a single match against the Netherlands. However during the second test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground he dropped four catches, including three chances from Michael Hussey in one session on Day 4. Hussey went on to score a match winning century with the Pakistan team losing in a shock result after dominating the first three days of play.He was subsequently dropped for the third test, being replaced by Sarfraz Ahmed. After this tour Akmal saw a steady improvement in his wicket-keeping for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, 2010 Asia Cup and against Australia in July 2010 however the next test series against England saw Akmal drop three easy catches and miss a stumping. The match as a consolation saw Akmal take a superb catch of Kevin Pietersen before dropping a catch on the very next ball against Paul Collingwood. In the first innings Akmal dropped a catch of Eoin Morgan when he was on 23 who then went on to score 130. Despite having another keeper, Zulqarnain Haider, in the squad, Pakistani captain Salman Butt announced it was too early in the series as only one match had been played to decide the fate of Kamran Akmal.