Umar Akmal Was a Difficult Personality to Deal With: Mudassar Nazar

Former Pakistan batsman, Mudassar Nazar, recently finished his third stint with the Pakistan Cricket Board, as the Director of Academies at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. As a player and as a coach he knows a thing or two about Pakistan cricket, and also what ails it.

In a chat with Pakpassion.net, Nazar talked about the uber-talented Umar Akmal, and what went wrong with him.

"Umar Akmal was a difficult personality to deal with. Sometimes when you spoke with him, he seemed to be fine for a period of a few months and he would start delivering straight away, and then something would get triggered in his mind, which made it so difficult to deal with him.

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"When he was at the NCA, he kept on slogging and getting out all the time and I told him to not come back. We kept him away from the academy for a few months, but when he came back, he scored 4-5 hundreds on the trot. From then on, he went on to play for Pakistan Under-19s and then had a great start for the national side."

Nazar went on to say that he can only help himself along with his immediate family.

"After that, things went haywire for him and he is where he is now. I feel really sad for him and I do feel that the only people who can help him now are himself or his immediate family."

He has played 16 Tests, 121 ODIs and 84 T20Is. In these matches, he has only three tons to his name.