Umar Akmal earns the wrath of PCB after his talk with Imran Khan

PCB is furious with batsman and part-time wicketkeeper Umar Akmal about the talks he had with former Pakistan captain Imran Khan. It seems that Akmal complained to Imran that the team management should send him up the order instead of his current slot.

Former captain Rameez Raja came to know of the incident and is furious with Akmal and his selfish behavior. He told a TV channel, “I am very angry with Umar’s behavior. Whenever he meets with a former great, he ends up talking about having his batting order changed. My heart says that for his behavior Umar should be sat out in the next match.”

What transpired was that when Imran was giving a motivational talk to the Pakistan team ahead of the India game, Akmal saw an opportunity and had a word with Imran about asking captain Afridi to move him up the batting order. This talk was caught on the camera and after Akmal is shown talking to Imran; Imran turns and tells someone to move Akmal up the batting order.

Umar Akmal scored 22 off 16 balls in a Pakistani total of 118. Pakistan lost to India after India chased the total down thanks to brilliant innings from Virat Kohli (55*) and Yuvraj Singh (24). This was Pakistan’s 11^th loss in 11 World Cup matches against India and their first loss at Kolkata.

Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman was present at the Pakistan dressing room and has not liked what Umar Akmal has done and has had a word about the same with the team management in front of cameras.  Umar Akmal has had problems with disciplines and has been fined and banned previously for the same by the board.

Ramiz Raja said that “Before the 1992 World Cup final also, Imran had invited Sir Viv Richards to our dressing room. But the purpose of his visit was not give us technical or tactical advice but just give us a motivational speech.”