'It is not our mother tongue' - Kamran Akmal when asked why do people make fun of his English

Pakistani players are always facing troubles whenever it comes to interviews and speaking to foreign presenters given their difficulty in speaking English. The Asian country has produced some of the best cricketers the world has ever seen in Imran Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad, Mohsin Khan, Javed Miandad, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Shoaib Akhtar and at present Babar Azam.

However, apart from a handful like Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Younis and a few more, everybody else became the butt of jokes when it came to speaking English on international forums. There have been memes made, standup comedians have made skits on Pakistani players’ ability to communicate in the universal language given that most of the stars come from a rural background with little education in English.

One such player whose English has been made fun of is Kamran Akmal, the mercurial wicketkeeper-batsman who is currently out of favour from the national team. His language is primarily Urdu and though he can string together some words in English, mostly, he struggles in speaking fluently in the language and was seen using a translator in his early years with the team.

Kamran Akmal has been sidelined from the national side

When one fan asked Kamran why do people make fun of his English, which is completely understandable, the wicket-keeper batsman simply replied that there is nothing to worry given that English was not his mother tongue and he is not worried about the same.

Though there is no shame in speaking one’s mother tongue, given that cricket is an international sport, many Pakistani players learned to speak English to a good level with Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Wasim Akram being some of them, while Imran and Waqar and Shoaib had studied in England and English medium schools.

Kamran has been very vocal about Pakistan selectors ignoring him when it comes to bringing back senior players. He said even Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad and his brother Umar were recalled, but he has been ignored completely.

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