Pakistan had lost the ODI series after the Test. Team appeared to be helpless, so there was a need to do something that could lift them all back up. Remember, we are talking about the rainy days of 2009, the same year in which Pakistan cricket suffered the most shocking incident, of the attack on the Sri Lankan team. It was the same year when a major victory came to Pakistan, the historic triumph of the T20 World Cup, but it proved to be a breeze and the Pakistani team was back to its troubled times. Then, during one suffocating evening in August, Umar Akmal came as a breath of fresh air.
In his third match against Sri Lanka, he not only scored a century but also promised a bright future. He had all the accessories of a superstar, full range of shots, technically very strong and above all a heart of a lion. Then in the same year, he scored a century in his first Test on New Zealand’s bouncy and seaming tracks. Not only did he score a ton, but he seemed to carry the entire burden of batting unit alone. On the morning of Eid, Pakistan lost the Dunedin Test but Umar Akmal extended his qualification to Test cricket. Even to this date his aesthetically pleasing drives warms the blood. In his first Test series in New Zealand, he was the most successful batsman for both the teams. However, the team also included veteran players like Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq and Salman Butt.
Immediately after New Zealand series, Pakistan toured down under, Umar Akmal proved to be the second best batsman from Pakistan. He had by now passed two of the most difficult tests of his cricketing career. Whether it’s Sri Lanka’s spin wickets or New Zealand and Australia’s swinging and bouncy wickets. He had proved his mettle. During the World T20 in the Caribbean later in 2010, Umar was the most promising talent, amassing heaps of runs. This was the time when junior Akmal had shaken the cricketing community with his flare and flamboyance and he was being compared to India’s top-gun Virat Kohli. Both were touted the future of the game, but the problem for Akmal was elsewhere.
Umar Akmal was as big a player on the field but off it, he was just another spoiled brat. He was unlucky that he had the unconditional support of his brother, unfortunate because this backing was negative in all regards.
Elder brothers always hold your hand and guide you, teach you the difference between good and bad, prevent you from falling into blind ditches, but here Kamran Akmal failed miserably in fulfilling his responsibility.
The first breach of discipline written in Umar Akmal’s career was also a folly in his brother’s love. It is rumored that Kamran Akmal was dropped from the team after an unforgettable and humiliating defeat in the Sydney Test. When Kamran was dropped from the game’s longest format after representing Pakistan in 42 consecutive games, his own attitude was disappointing.
He engineered a rather dirty move of and exploited Umar’s top form with the bat. He convinced Umar to opt out by citing back pain, Umar complied. After the inquiry it was established that the move was designed by the brothers. Thus, the best batsman that Pakistan had got became a victim of family prejudice.
This was the first ugly stain on his forehead and the biggest culprit was his elder brother Kamran himself who had become a permanent part of the team as a senior player by then. Kamran understood the good and the bad, but he sacrificed his teenage and rather naïve younger brother, who was fresh in the world of glamour for his own selfishness and interest.
In principle, Umar Akmal should have learned a lot from here that one shock is enough for a human being, but where the fence is eating the crop, the curtains over the eyes do not allow you to see or understand anything. Fame which was his right but with fame there is also responsibility and this lesson could not be taught to Umar by his elder brother and there was no one else who could tell him these things.
Muhammad Yosuf was then the captain of the team after Younis Khan had faced the mutiny. Yousaf was alleged to have convinced the players to take oaths on the Quran against Younis. In those days, multiple stories of breach of discipline about Yosuf himself became the adornment of the media. Right after Pakistan’s dismal display in Australia, Yousaf was slashed off with the honor of captaining the side. Shahid Afridi was crowned with the captaincy right away, and just like his hit or go back to pavilion kind of mindset he deemed appropriate to quit. What happened in English summer later is painful.
The point is, Umar Akmal was still young when all this was happening around him. Virat Kohli then had a great captain like Mahendra Singh Dhoni which later had a very positive effect on his career. It would not be a mistake to say that having such a big mentor at the beginning of one’s career proves to be a fundamental difference.
Then where 2010 was a mixed year for him, 2011 proved to be his best cricketing year. He got a chance to play regularly and also scored consistently. His attitude on and off the field was lauded by the cricket pundits and media and the team management.
While his performance in limited overs was excellent in 2011, it was also the year of the end of his Test career. The beginning of such a glorious career in Oceania, Australia and New Zealand, seemed like someone had cursed him.
In 2012, Umar Akmal regained his composure and committed the crime of changing gloves without the permission of the umpire in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup. The journey from here onwards was more of a descent than an ascent. A promising batsman who had made a home in the hearts of millions of fans was falling prey to his immaturity and child-like attitude.
Umar was discharged from the Test team. In ODIs he was more in news due to his off-the-field activities rather than his performances on the field. In 2014, he had to spend one night in custody after an argument with a traffic warden. He was now an established non-serious cricketer who could not digest the fame.
After his miserable performance in the 2015 World Cup and his expulsion from the team, Umar Akmal became a spoiled prince. Whether it was the Faisalabad Theater or a quarrel with fellow players like Junaid Khan, he was constantly on a downhill journey. Both performance and fitness began to falter until he was sent home before the Champions Trophy in 2017. That’s how things got worse between Mickey Arthur and him. He accused the then head coach of abusing him at a press conference.
Then in the middle of his horror story he made a come-back for few matches but by now he had lost his flair. He had complaints about his batting number. He had problems with wicket-keeping. But according to his statistics, it was revealed that Umar Akmal’s batting record as a wicket keeper is better. He had the reputation of being quarrelsome but now he had become a complaining child too. Once he reached out to Prime Minister Imran Khan to cement his batting number.
Mickey Arthur left, but Umar’s complaints remained constant. Couple of months back, he made headlines with his disturbing attitude towards fitness staff at NCA. Reportedly he yelled at the members of coaching team, after failing to meet the required criteria. He had problems with every national coach and team management.
The recent incident has virtually ended Umar Akmal’s cricket career. He failed to report multiple approaches to him by the bookies. He was suspended just before the start of Pakistan Super League this year. On March 17, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) indicted him, stating that Umar Akmal had failed to report contacts at least twice. He was asked to respond in this regard. He was accused of failing to report the offer of corruption, which is a serious offense under Article 2.4.4 of the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Code.
Umar Akmal had admitted his mistake and decided not to fight the case. If a player pleads guilty, his case is placed before a disciplinary panel instead of a tribunal. He appeared before Justice (retd) Fazal Miran, chairman of the disciplinary panel, who sentenced him to three years. Many people, including Kamran Akmal, complained that he has been given a harsh sentence.
Thus, owing to immaturity, his naivetés, his inability to maintain his reputation and the lack of guidance in his initial years, his relation with few conspiratorial players drowned him. Abdul Qadir is not with us today, otherwise he would have been very sad to see yet another shining star biting the dirt.
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