Umar Akmal

At 33 years old, Umar Akmal has this physical status:

Umar Akmal (born 26 May 1990) is a Pakistani cricketer.

On August 1, 2009, he made his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka and his Test debut against New Zealand on November 23rd 2009.

He is a right-handed batsman and a part-time spinner.

In several ODIs, Umar has kept wicket for the national team, like his two brothers, Adnan and Kamran.

Noor Fatima is his wife's name. He was revealed as a franchise player for the inaugural Caribbean Premier League alongside Pakistani teammates Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik Domestically before joining United Bank Limited in August 2017.

Personal life

Born to Mohammad Akmal Siddique, "a very senior administrator in Pakistan cricket," with six brothers who played cricket at some time, but many went to work, and one daughter. He is Adnan Akmal and Kamran Akmal's younger brother, who are both cricketers and wicketkeepers. He is also the uncle of Pakistani batsman Babar Azam.

He married Noor Amna, the daughter of Pakistan leg spinner Abdul Qadir's sister.

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Early career and domestic career

In the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia, Akmal represented Pakistan. After his success at the U-19 level, he gained himself a first-class job and spent the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with the Sui Northern Gas team from 2007-08.

He is a good game cricketer with a vivacious style. He scored 248 off 225 deliveries, including four sixes, in just his sixth first-class match. In his 8th first-class match, he led off with an unbeaten 186 in his eighth first-class match, using only 170 balls. He did not do well in his second season of first-class cricket, with a series of low scores at number 3.

He found form in the final few matches of the 2008/09 season and later in the RBS T20 tournament, which culminated in him being selected to play for Pakistan A on their tour to Australia A.

Akmal made a name for himself during the Australian A tour in June/July 2009. He had scores of 54, 100*, 130, 0 in two unofficial Test matches. Akmal's unofficial ODI series that followed continued his fine form in the first ODI series, with a century in the first ODI case only 68 deliveries. He earned considerable praise from the media who were there to see him perform, and calls for his inclusion in the ODI series for Sri Lanka's main Pakistani team began to rise. Akmal's Test, ODI, and T20I debut were among his T20I debuts later this year.

He played for Sui Northern Gas in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy from 2016–17, during which Sui Northern Gas won three times (2007-08, 2015-16). However, he was briefly barred from the first-class side of the 2012 President's Trophy. Akmal appeared for United Bank Limited in 2017–18, and for Habib Bank Limited in 2018-19, winning the 2018–19 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with Habib Bank Limited.

Akmal was a member of the National T20 Cup from 2015-2016, a period when the Lahore Lions won the national T20 Cup three times (2010-11, 2012-13, 2013-14).

In the 2016 Pakistan Cup, Akmal played for Balochistan. He captained Punjab in the 2017 Pakistan Cup, with Punjab finishing 4th out of 5th, with Punjab finishing fourth out of 5th.

He was drafted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's squad for the 2018 Pakistan Cup in April 2018. He was the top run-scorer for Habib Bank Limited in the 2018–19 Quaid-e-Azam One Day Cup, scoring 410 runs in ten matches. In March 2019, he was selected in Baluchistan's squad for the 2019 Pakistan Cup. He scored 136 not out in the tournament's first round, his highest score in List A cricket. With 342 runs in five matches, he was the top run-scoer in the tournament.

In September 2019, he was selected in Central Punjab's squad for the 2019-20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament. Central Punjab won the tournament, and Akmal was named man of the match in the final.

Test career

On November 23, 2009, Akmal made his Test debut against New Zealand at Dunedin. After Fawad Alam's debut on home, Akmal batted 129 runs from 160 runs, becoming only the second Pakistani to score a hundred on his debut away from home.

Following his ODI century victory over Sri Lanka, this feat made him the first Pakistani batsman to score both his maiden Test and ODI century away from home. The innings were deemed as exceptional due to Pakistan's difficult position in the match and his younger brother Kamran's participation in a hundred charity. With a fifty in the second innings, he maintained the century in the first innings.

He was elevated in his second Test match to the crucial position of number 3, where he suffered first but eventually managed to beat the aggressive bowling with his natural flair, taking 46 runs before being dismissed by an inswinger by Daryl Tuffey.

In the second innings, he was moved down to his usual batting position of number 5 as captain Mohammed Yousuf chose to bat at number 3 himself, and Akmal displayed his usual tenacity in his innings of 52 runs, which came off only 33 runs.

In the first innings of the third test at Napier, he had his first error but secured a rearguard 77, advancing him to the top run scorer of the series. Akmal ran for 400 runs on an average of 57.14.

In the one-off test against Zimbabwe in 2011, Akmal played his last test match. Akmal played only 15 points in the game and was suspended from the test team shortly after and has yet to be called back.

ODI and Twenty20 career

"I'm dreaming of playing for Pakistan with Kamran Bhai (Akmal's brother), and I'm working really hard to achieve that goal," Akmal said in an interview. In July-August 2009, Akmal was selected in Pakistan's squad for the One Day International Series against Sri Lanka.

Akmal made his debut in the second match of the season, replacing Mohammad Yousuf in the middle order after not playing in the first ODI. Akmal scored his first ODI fifty in just his second year in the series. In the upcoming match, he tied for his maiden 50 by scoring a century. He was given his first Man of the Match award for his match winning effort. His exploits in Sri Lanka earned him a spot in the Pakistan squad for the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy.

His 41 not out against the West Indies was a match winning knock that culminated in his second career Man of the Match award. His next big innings came in the semi-finals against New Zealand, where he scored a brisk 55 runs in a losing effort before being bowled out by umpire Simon Taufel, who later apologized.

Despite the fact that Akmal is not a wicketkeeper, he kept wicket for Pakistan temporarily in the third ODI against England in 2010 from the 27th to the third ODI against England in 2010 because his elder brother Kamran was being treated for a finger injury. In his first World Cup match, Umar Akmal scored 71 runs from 52 balls and was named Man of the Match.

Pakistan defeated England in four ODIs in February 2012. Because of Pakistan's brittle batting, the team's leadership chose to play Akmal as a wicketkeeper based on his batting ability, though his brother Adnan was the better keeper.' In the first two matches, Umar Akmal missed opportunities to dismiss Ravi Bopara and Alastair Cook early, and both batsmen went on to score a half-century and a century.

Akmal was selected for Pakistan's squad for the 2012 World Twenty2020. Pakistan advanced to the semifinals after losing to Sri Lanka.

In 2015, Akmal was banned from the ODI series against Sri Lanka, but the T20I series was picked up. In the first T20I match, he demonstrated his contribution to the team by scoring 24-ball 46 runs.

Akmal was initially banned from Pakistan's T20I series against England for attending a party without PCB authorization, but was eventually found not guilty of wrongdoing and allowed to go on tour. In that series, Akmal batted for only 26 runs over 3 innings.

Due to an incident in the final of the recently concluded Quaid-e-Azam trophy, Akmal was initially barred from Pakistan's first T20I against New Zealand. The suspension was lifted on appeal, but not on appeal. Akmal was the highest run scorer of the Pakistani series with 85 runs over three wickets and one fifty.

Akmal was in the 2016 World Twenty2020. Following Akmal's dismissal from the T20 team, the T20 was suspended. He was also barred from a training camp for disciplinary reasons soon after.

Akmal was recalled to the T20 for the series against the West Indies. He was unbeaten in one game.

Due to fitness issues, Akmal was forced to be pulled from the ODI side of the series against the West Indies. He was later recalled and admitted to the ODI squad for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, but he failed a fitness test just before the tournament. Akmal was then sent back and Haris Sohail was installed.

Due to persistent fitness problems, Akmal was suspended from PCB's list of centrally contracted players on July 12, 2017.

In March 2019, Akmal was called to the ODI squad for their series against Australia in the UAE. He hit 150 runs in a row across 5 innings at an annual rate of 30 and did not reach 50 in the entire series. In addition, he was fined 20% of his match fee for violating team curfew ahead of his 5th ODI.

Akmal was not selected for the 2019 Cricket World Cup squad.

In October 2019, Umar Akmal was recalled to the T20 side for Pakistan's home series against Sri Lanka. However, he scored two golden ducks in the first two games of the series and was later banned. He tied Tillekaratne Dilshan's record for scoring the most ducks in T20Is with ten points. In Twenty 20 cricket history (27) Umar Akmal has the second most ducks in the series (27) right behind Dwayne Smith.

T20 franchise career

In the 2016 season, Lahore Qalandars bought Akmal for US$140,000. He played well and finished as the best runscorer in PSL 2016 with 335 runs in seven innings and four half-centuries. His team didn't qualify for play-offs and finished last in the group stage. For the second season, Lahore Qalandars had him in his second season. He finished the season with 164 runs out of 8 games and just one fifty. Qalandars retaining him for the third time this season. He was eventually suspended by Lahore Qalandars for a second segment of the tournament due to his below-par results and disciplinary concerns.

Akmal was the product of a trade in Quetta, Quetta Gladiators' 4th season. In 12 matches in the tournament, he scored 277 runs in 12 matches.

Umar was a member of the Quetta Gladiators squad for the 2020 season but was suspended by the PCB with immediate effect under Article 4.7.1 of its anti-corruption law, barrering him from participating in any cricket-related work under the board's jurisdiction "pending the investigation being conducted by the PCB's Anti-Corruption Unit." Anwar Ali had him replaced, but he was recalled.

Akmal appeared for three seasons. He competed for the Barbados Tridents in 2013, Guyana Amazon Warriors in 2015, and the Trinbago Knight Riders in 2016.

Because he was playing for the Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League, he had to spend a night in hospital after suffering mild seizures. Following this, the PCB called him back for a complete medical examination and subsequently barred him from the forthcoming Zimbabwe tour. He was cleared by a neurologist on September 6, 2013 indicating that the seizure was possibly due to a lack of sleep.

In the 2012 season of the Sri Lankan Premier League, Akmal played for Wayamba United. (SLPL). Akmal was a part of two games and scored 13 runs. However, Akmal will not return to play another season as the SLPL has folded that year.

Akmal was selected for the Sydney Sixers for the 2012-13 Big Bash but did not play a single single game.

Akmal spent two seasons in the Bangladesh Premier League. In the 2015-16 season, he competed for the Chittagong Vikings. That season, the Chittagong Vikings finished last in last place. In the 2016-17 season, Akmal appeared for the Rajshahi Kings. He played nine games and averaged 106 runs at 13.25 per cent.

Akmal served in the T20 Blast for two seasons (2015 and 2016). In both seasons, he appeared for the Leicestershire Foxes. He played 4 games and scored 133 runs at an average of 133 with two fifties and a high score of 76* in 2015. However, he did a poor job in 2016. He played 6 games and scored 134 runs at an average of 33.5 with one 50.

He was chosen to play for the Winnipeg Hawks franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament in June.

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