14 Facts about Umar Akmal: The Pakistani Big Hitter

Umar Akmal is a right-handed batsman and a part-time off-spinner for Pakistan who also keeps. He has always been known for his fearlessness at the crease and his wide array of strokes had pundits gushing for superlatives. The more aggressive batsman among the two Akmal brothers Umar was always seen as someone with a lot of potential to serve Pakistan cricket. But on multiple occasions, various issues be it disciplinary or management based have kept him out of the team. Here we take a look at some of the most interesting facts about Umar Akmal.

1. Born on:

Umar Akmal was born on 26th May 1990 in Lahore, Pakistan.

2. Youngest of 3 brothers:

Umar is the youngest brother of Adnan Akmal and Kamran Akmal. And all three of them are wicket-keeper batsmen. Umar is a part-time spin bowler as well.

3. Family:

He and his wife Noor Amna have a daughter Harleen Umar. Apart from his cricketer brothers, Adnan and Kamran, the right-handed batsman Babar Azam is his cousin.

4. Featured in U19 World Cup 2008:

Umar represented Pakistan in the 2008 U19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia and he had a good outing and that success at the U19 level he earned himself a first-class contract and played the 2007–08 season of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, representing the Sui Southern Gas team.

5. International debut:

He made his international debut on 1st August 2009, against Sri Lanka at Dambulla. Coming down at no.5, he scored just 18 runs in the match, but he had a great run in the matches to follow. Umar scored his first international century in his third ODI.

6. Dream Test debut:

Three months after his ODI debut, he earned the Test cap for the game against New Zealand Dunedin on 24th November 2009. In his first Test innings, against an attack which included Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori, the 19-year-old Umar scored 129 in an innings where no other specialist batsman touched 30. He was aggressive despite the nerves of the debut.

In the second innings of the match, he came up with a different attitude and played patiently with his side chasing a total. He scored 75 runs off 174 balls. A total of 204 runs in Test debut is like a dream for any cricketer.

7. Trademark Green Lipstick:

Umar Akmal always loves to have a super neon green lipstick, which has turned out to be a trademark symbol for him.

8. Controversy with Police:

He has been charged by Gulberg police in Lahore for allegedly misbehaving with a warden after committing a traffic violation. Police said that Akmal did not stop at a traffic signal in the commercial Firdous market area in Lahore, and later engaged in a scuffle with a traffic warden and tore his uniform.

9. Downfall:

After a great start to his international career, he has struggled midway in his career. Form deserted him in 2010, and he didn’t help his cause by getting into trouble with the authorities by creating issues of giving unauthorized interviews to the media and soon he was dropped from the Test side for the series against Sri Lanka in the UAE, and the selectors asked him to return to domestic cricket and rediscover the ability to bat long periods and score big hundreds.

10. The wicket-keeper scenario:

Umar is not known to be a great wicket-keeper but still kept wickets for Pakistan. With his batting capabilities, he was always selected over Adnan Akmal, who is a better keeper. In February 2012, Pakistan faced England in a 4 ODI series, and Umar was selected as the wicket-keeper. It turned out to be a disaster as he missed opportunities to dismiss Ravi Bopara and Alastair Cook early in their innings, and both the batsmen went on to score a half-century and a century respectively and that cost him his spot in the team.

11. Franchise Player in the CPL:

He was announced as a Franchise Player for the inaugural Caribbean Premier League (CPL) alongside Pakistani teammates Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik.

12. At Leicestershire:

He had been signed in the NatWest T20 Blast by Leicestershire as cover for Grant Elliott in May 2015. Elliott was expected to miss the later stages of the tournament, Akmal played in fixtures against Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire.

13. PSL 2016:

Umar was the highest runs scorer in PSL 2016. He scored 335 runs in seven innings with four half-centuries.

14. Major Teams:

Apart from Pakistan, Umar Akmal had featured for Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, Lahore Lions, Lahore Qalandars, Pakistan Under-19s and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited.