Akmal's omission leaves former Pak players fuming

Hard hitting batsman Umar Akmal's absence from the Pakistan playing XI in the second ODI against New Zealand has left former players fuming, who feels that the right-handed batsman's omission from the limited over matches will destroy his confidence, who is in fine form of late.

Akmal was replaced by right-handed batsman Shoaib Malik in the second ODI of the ongoing three-match series at Abu Dhabi last night.

Pakistan lost the second ODI against the Black Caps by 64-run to leave the series tied at 1-1. The 19-year-old Akmal has had an excellent start to his international career, scoring his maiden ODI century in just his third game and averages 49.83 in the format. ''It can be very discouraging for a young man like Umar since he has been very impressive in recent games for Pakistan and is raring to go against the Kiwis,'' Waqar Younis was qouted as saying by 'Cricinfo.com'.

''It is bound to shake his confidence in the coming games,'' he added. Former skipper Rameez Raja even went on to question that the decision to drop Akmal was down to Pakistan's rotation policy or something else entirely. ''I would like to know the logic behind this and whose decision was it to omit Umar from this game,'' he said. ''This will only hurt Pakistan,'' he added. Legendary leg-spinner Abqul Qadir stressed that leaving out a talented player like Akmal from playing XI, who is in fine form will definetely destoy his confidence.

''How can you drop a batsman when he has impressed all around the world with his brilliant temperament? It will only shatter his confidence and we might lose such a talented player if he continuously gets such treatment in the team,'' he said. Qadir, who was Pakistan chief selector for eight months till June this year, further disclosed that he had advised the PCB board to focus on younger players during his stint, advice which the board ignored. ''I had told the PCB that senior players should only play Test matches and we should find fresh legs from our own domestic ODI and Twenty20 tournament, but the cricket board did not listen to my advice,'' he added. Former national selector Salahuddin Ahmed also criticised the think tank for droping out an in-form player like Akmal adding that Malik and Akmal both should be part of playing XI. ''I think the ouster will hurt the confidence of Umar to a large extent. This should have not been done with him at this moment, he said.

''I will also not support the decision of dropping Shoaib Malik from the first ODI, since he is one of the best all-rounders for this version of the game. Pakistan should have gone with Kamran Akmal with any of the regular openers to make room for both Shoaib and Umar for all these matches,'' he added.

-- (UNI) -- 07SPD32.xml

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