Adnan Akmal

Born on March 13, 1985, Adnan Akmal is a wicket-keeper batsman for Pakistan. He is younger to Kamran Akmal and elder to Umar Akmal - who also play cricket for the country. There seems to be a natural temptation in the family to wear the wicket-keeping gloves and Adnan was no different from his two brothers.

He made his first-class debut in 2003 and has played over a 100 games. He was part of the Pakistan Under-17 side as well. With a lot of experience in the domestic circuit, the selectors trusted him ahead of his brother Kamran who was not doing well, and he replaced Zulqarnain Haider during South Africa’s visit to the UAE in 2010.

He debuted in the longest format first, on November 12 in Dubai. His highest score came against England when he batted really well with the lower-order to add 61 runs in Dubai which gave his bowlers the extra cushion to go for the kill against the Englishmen.

The knock gave him a lot of credit and he was rated very high by former Pakistani cricketers. He has two fifties so far in his career and a decent average of over 27. But as time went by, he lost his place to Kamran Akmal and then to Sarfraz Ahmed.

In and out of the side, Adnan featured in the home Test series against South Africa in 2013 but lost his place after the first Test against Sr Lanka in Dubai due to lack of form.

His ODI debut was against Zimbabwe when Pakistan toured the African nation in 2011. He has featured in four other games since then and has done fairly well in the limited opportunities that he has got. However, the selectors don't look up to him as a limited-overs material and has found it tough to get a breakthrough into the national side. He has played for a number of teams in the domestic circuit and is now representing Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited.

A strange quirk of fate prevented him from playing for Pakistan much earlier. In 2004, he and Kamran were both called up for a camp before a tri-nation series event. There confusion and chaos reigned and after much deliberation, Kamran was choosen over Adnan.

Adnan is considered to be the most accomplished wicket-keeper in the country and when the Late Bob Woolmer was in charge of Pakistan, he had reckoned that Adnan was the best pure keeper in the country.

By Ramakrishnan - March 2013