Umar Akmal

Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard. Many a newspaper articles have the same undercurrent tone when they carry a piece on Umar Akmal. Since his arrival as a teenage prodigy in the 2008 under-19 World Cup, Umar has been seen as a ticking time bomb of a talent ready to explode but self-detonation on and off the field have only disuaded the team management to give him a permanent run.

Born on 26 May 1990, Umar Akmal is the youngest of the three brothers who have represented Pakistan in International cricket. His elder siblings Kamran and Adnan have represented Pakistan as wicket-keepers and Umar himself is a part-time keeper.

A sparkling hundred(129) on debut at Dunedin against the likes of Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori and an ODI hundred in his 3rd game had got cricketing pundits going gaga over his attractive and attacking style of batsmanship. But lack of form and indiscipline off the field have been a major hindrance for the uber talented youngest Akmal.

Here is a short list of controversies he has been a part of:-

**On the 2009-10 tour to Australia after Kamran Akmal had a horrendous outing in the Sydney Test, it was reported Umar had faked a back injury as a mark of protest for dropping his brother in the next and final Test at Hobart. He was later fined 2 million rupees for talking to the media about the episode without consulting the PCB.

**Umar Akmal was released from jail after spending an entire day in lock-up for allegedly thrashing a traffic warden and tearing his uniform after being stopped for violating a signal here in early 2014

**He was involved in a spat with Junaid Khan during a National Cup one day game. Both the players were reprimanded with fines and we're kept under observation by the PCB.

**After having been excluded for the tour to West Indies in early 2017 due to fitness concerns. Umar was called from England after originally being a part of Pakistan's squad of 15 players. He failed two fitness tests on successive days and was asked to go back to Pakistan.

Life on fast tracks at the international level has been more slippery than smooth for the mercurial right hander but with age on his side and knocks like that of a dazzling 94 against Australia in the 2014 T20 World Cup will keep forcing the selectors to give him that next chance. When he grabs it, will remain a question!

by Kumar Abhisekh Das