Birthday Bombs: Kamran Akmal turns 36

When Kamran Akmal stepped into international cricket, he was deemed to be a bright prospect for Pakistan cricket. However, with the passage of time, he became a laughing-stock all over the internet owing to his prowess as a keeper and also for several other reasons. The web is a strong medium to get a post viral and quite expectantly people took to the internet to post funny stuff on Akmal.

The wicketkeeper-batsman also encountered some tricky, yet hilarious situations which are expounded in the following paragraphs in the article. As he celebrates his 36th birthday, we take you through some of the amusing posts on the discarded Pakistan-cricketer.

#1 Funny interview with Dean Jones

The interview was conducted after Pakistan thumped Australia by seven wickets in Dubai in a one-off T20 match in 2009. Kamran Akmal played a brilliant hand of 59 runs off 42 balls to steer Pakistan through to the victory. After the game, Dean Jones caught with him for an interview. Though he batted smoothly, he stumbled over his words and struggled to compile his words into something meaningful.

While it was clear that he credited Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik for Pakistan’s win, his delivery at the interview was horrendous, to say the least. Meanwhile, Akmal also made a gesture for his daughter after reaching the half-century, which was well appreciated by Deano.

#2 Misplaced passport in 2003

The passport saga unfolded on the eve of Bangladesh’s tour of Pakistan in 2003. Kamran was playing for the Limavady club in Ireland and scored a magnificent century in the final of the North West Cup final. Meanwhile, he submitted his passport to the club’s manager. Pakistan squad for the tour was announced in the first week of August. During the same time, Akmal’s manager went on a holiday.

However, to his dismay, the manager locked the passport in a safe and went off. Subsequently, Akmal communicated that he couldn’t retrieve the passport before 16th August and won’t be able to join the training camp before the first Test on 20th August at Karachi.

#3 Butt of jokes on social media

He has undoubtedly been impressive as a cricketer, however, his keeping skills have come under the scanner on several occasions. Dropping catches at crucial stages of a game and has occasionally sloppy work with the gloves. Subsequently, he was subject to flak and criticism from the pundits and the fans.

However, some people saw the funnier side of it and trolled him for his lacklustre performances. The internet flooded with memes and posts pertaining to Akmal’s poor shows. He dropped a couple of catches of Ross Taylor and gifted the birthday-boy with lifelines after which Twitter severely cracked jokes on him almost every time he took field. Meanwhile, Akmal’s struggle with the gloves continued.

#4 Constant chirps behind the wickets

Pakistan have a legacy of producing wicket-keepers who are vocal behind the stumps. Moin Khan, during his playing days, used to continuously speak something or the other in order to cheer the players and instructing the bowlers to bowl accordingly. After Khan’s retirement, the baton was passed to Kamran.

The Lahore-born cricketer used to constantly be vocal which used to get caught on the microphones attached to the stumps. Andy Zaltman, British comedian and author, in an exclusive interview with ESPNCricinfo in 2011, mentioned that Akmal’s constant chirping was a strategy to unnerve the batsman into giving their wickets away.

#5 One-liners

Behind every successful batsman, there is Kamran Akmal.

What do Kamran and Michael Jackson have in common? They both wear gloves for no reason.

Kamran Akmal’s favourite pickup line? “Can I drop you somewhere?”

Why was Kamran Akmal late for practice? Because he forgot to catch the team bus.

Disclaimer: All the characters, story, content is work of fiction and meant for entertainment purpose only.