PSL 2018: Mickey Arthur highlights the reasons behind Kamran Akmals non-selection

Kamran Akmal has been in prime form in the third edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) and has played a crucial role in their campaign thus far. He has notched 424 runs in 12 matches thus far for the Peshawar Zalmi and is currently the leading run-scorer in the series. Meanwhile, he notched the fastest half-century in the history of the tournament when he achieved the feat in 17 balls against Karachi Kings.

However, despite the stupendous run or form, Micky Arthur, the Pakistan head coach, hasn’t been convinced by the wicket-keeper batsman’s attributes. Arthur, also the coach of the Karachi Kings, has justified the reasons behind Kamran Akmal’s non-inclusion in a recent interaction with the media. He emphasized Akmal’s poor performances on the field while appreciating his potential with the willow.

“He is poor in the field”- Arthur

“Akmal played very well [but] to play international cricket, you’ve got to do well in three different disciplines. He’s batted outstandingly and is a really good batsman. But the same thing as last time, where does he field? Sarfraz is the keeper. He was poor in the field in West Indies and I’m not sure too much has changed,” Arthur was quoted as saying in the post-match conference.

Karachi Kings have recently been eliminated from the series. They were thumped by Islamabad United in the Qualifier in Dubai. Thereafter the team moved to Lahore where they played the Peshawar Zalmi. However, they had been jolted ahead of the game with injuries to Imad Wasim and Shahid Afridi. Nevertheless, despite Babar Azam and Joe Denly’s stupendous knocks, they were eliminated.

Arthur also mentioned that injuries to the Pakistan players disturbed their plans to an extent “I think we were ravaged by injuries. The injuries to Afridi and Imad are massive. When we sat down and made plans, we picked them to control the middle over and for Imad to bowl a couple of overs in the powerplay. So we lost two massive international players and that scuppered our plans a bit,” Arthur added.

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