Out-of-favour Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran AkmalMickey Arthur had left out the Akmal brothers Umar and Kamran during his time as Pakistan head coach. Recently, out-of-favour Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran criticised Arthur for giving too much importance to fitness to which the former coach responded, “Kamran Akmal is a comfort zome player.”
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Arthur said, “Just look at what happened to Kamran Akmal. Kamran Akmal is a comfort zone player. He couldn’t field. Sarfraz Ahmed was captain. He wasn’t going to be the wicket-keeper. We took him on a West Indies tour and he was average at best. Kamran Akmal failed two fitness tests. So to be honest, anything that the Akmals say, I don’t listen to at all. Anything they say, I just take with a pinch of salt.”
“It’s definitely too late for him [Umar Akmal] now. It’s sad because he is a likeable enough bloke but what he needed was a real firm hand at the start of his career to guide him properly,” Arthur told Pinch Hitter magazine. “I don’t think he got the right messages earlier in his career because if he had, he wouldn’t have gone down the route he has chosen to. He was frustrating to work with.”
“I don’t think he got the right messages earlier in his career because if he had, he wouldn’t have gone down the route he has chosen to. He was frustrating to work with,” he added.
Akmal, who was a part of the Central Punjab team that won the Quaid-a-Azam first-class championship, enjoyed a good run of form in the tournament where he emerged as the second-highest run-scorer with 906 runs at an average of 60.40 (three centuries and as many fifties).