Kamran Akmal battling to keep his place in Pakistan squad

KARACHI: When Kamran Akmal features in the away series against India he would be walking on thin ice. The 25-year-old wicket-keeper, once hailed as one of the brightest young talents in the cricketing world, will actually be battling to keep his place on the Pakistan squad in the series that begins with the first of the five one-dayers in the eastern Indian city of Guwahati on November 5.

A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official confided in ‘The News’ that Akmal is almost certain to be ‘rested’ for the five-match ODI series against visiting Zimbabwe next month. In Pakistan cricket’s dictionary ‘rested’ is quite often a polite word for ‘dropped’.

In case Akmal fails to give a better show behind the stumps in India, he will have to face the axe for the Zimbabwe series. The selectors have already marked young wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed to replace Akmal in the one-day series against the Zimbabweans.

Sarfraz, 20, is a talented wicket-keeper and a useful middle-order batsman, who has proved his worth at the junior level by leading Pakistan to a title-winning triumph in the previous Junior World Cup.

Most experts believe he is ready to join the big league. Akmal, meanwhile, has been singled out by critics as one of the villains behind Pakistan’s back-to-back series defeats in Tests and ODIs in their own backyard against South Africa. He dropped Jaques Kallis on 36 in the opening Test against the Proteas in Karachi last month and the master batsman went on to score a match-winning 155.

Later in the ODI series-decider in Lahore last week, Kallis went on to score a valuable 86 after being dropped at 2 off Shoaib Akhtar. South African won the match to claim the series 3-2.

“Akmal is a talented player but we cannot go on with him like this. There has to be a solid replacement wicket-keeper because it’s a very crucial position,”

said the official.

After a promising start to his international career, Akmal has been going through a lean patch of form that worsened in England last summer when he dropped catches regularly. The Lahore-born player continued his poor form when the Pakistan toured South Africa this January as he struggled behind the stumps during the best part of the series.

Akmal has played 37 Tests, scored 1695 runs at 30.81 besides having 113 catches and 19 stumpings. He has scored 1340 runs at 24.81 from 73 ODI appearances with 63 catches and 11 stumpings.

Pakistan chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed, however, defends Akmal saying that the player is going through a lean patch and will soon be back in full flow.

“I’m sure he (Akmal) will recover because he is a talented and hard-working player,”

he said.

But Salahuddin, a former Pakistan Test player, conceded that the national team needs a good wicket-keeper on the bench.

“International cricket has become too hectic and sometimes a player really needs rest,”

he pointed out.

Salahuddin said that the selectors have noticed Sarfraz and believe that the youngster has the credentials to graduate to Test cricket.

“Sarfraz is young and talented and it seems he has a bright future.”

He said that selecting Sarfraz for the ODI series against Zimbabwe will certainly be an option when the selectors sit down to the pick the squad for the one-dayers.

Pakistan cricket team reaches New Delhi for Indian tour

LAHORE: The Pakistan cricket team, led by Shoaib Malik, reached New Delhi for the tour of India.The Pakistan team will play five One-day Internationals and three Test matches against India.

Before the departure for India, the cricketers relating to Lahore reached the airport individually while players coming from other cities came together from the National Cricket Academy.

On this occasion, players faced much difficulty due to presence of people at the airport as there were no security arrangements.

Besides, no official of the Pakistan Cricket Board was present at the cricket academy and the airport to see-off the cricket team.

Talking with media before leaving the cricket academy, captain national cricket team Shoaib Malik said that it is difficult to say any thing regarding win or loss in the series but the players worked hard and they will try their best to win the series in India.

He further said that Yuvraj Singh in the Indian team may be a great danger for the Pakistan team.

Injury rules Asif out of first three ODIs

Mohammad Asif will miss at least the first three matches of the ODI series against India with a long-standing elbow problem, the Pakistan board announced on the day of the team's departure to Delhi.

Asif missed four of the five ODIs against South Africa last month because of his right elbow injury and has not recovered sufficiently to play against India. Due to the uncertain nature of the injury, the extent of his participation in the ODIs remains in doubt and a replacement has not yet been sought. Board sources, however, told Cricinfo that Asif is likely to miss the entire ODI series and his participation in the Test series is in doubt.

"He felt pain in the elbow after the Multan ODI [against South Africa, on October 26]. We don't know the extent of the injury,"

Shafqat Naghmi, the Pakistan board's chief operating officer, said.

"He may be fit enough to go to India after three matches so we haven't yet announced a replacement as there are four fast bowlers in the squad anyway."

The elbow injury has lately plagued what has been an outstanding start to Asif's international career. Last year, he missed three Tests against England and the problem flared up during the tour to South Africa in January this year. Some contend it is linked to the often heavy workload Asif has carried out in Tests.

Naghmi said the problem was a rare one.

"It is not something that happens a lot. Surgery will not resolve it, nor will medicine. He just needs to strengthen the muscles around the elbow area."

"David Dwyer [Pakistan's fitness trainer] has devised a rehabilitation program for him and he will follow that. This is a problem the player himself knows about first. If he feels fit he will go to India as soon as possible."

"It's a big loss,"

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik said.

"We will try to overcome the loss and hope that it would not affect the team's performance in the series."

Asif expressed his disappointment at missing the tour and said he was hopeful of being fit in time for the Tests.

"It is a big disappointment because a tour to India is always important and I wanted to be part of the team,"

he said.

The pull-out is the latest in a series of late withdrawals by the bowler: along with Shoaib Akhtar, the pair was pulled out from the World Cup squad at the last minute earlier this year. And last year, a day before the Champions Trophy in India, Asif - and Shoaib again - were called back to Pakistan a day before their opening match against Sri Lanka, after dope tests revealed traces of an anabolic steroid.

Pakistan's pace attack remains a potentially strong one even without Asif. Rao Iftikhar Anjum ended the recent ODI series against South Africa as the joint-highest wicket-taker and a much-improved first-change option. Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir were not as consistent, though they bowled well in patches. But Asif's absence places the heaviest burden on Shoaib, who returned to international cricket on Monday.

In his first spell of international action since January - and his first ODI in 13 months - Shoaib took four wickets without ever appearing to operate at optimum fitness through the nine overs. But with Asif's return unclear, Pakistan will hope that Shoaib can overcome the problems of a traditionally fragile body and lead the attack through five ODIs and three Tests.