Colombo: Kamran Akmal, who thrashed the India attack on Monday to steer Pakistan to an improbable victory in a warm-up match through a breezy, unbeaten 92, was hailed a hero afterwards. He walked back to the pavilion after hitting a six as the winning shot to a standing ovation.
It was the same Akmal who was booed all the way into the pavilion during the 2011 World Cup in Sri Lanka at Pallekele against New Zealand for dropping a number of catches. Jokes were created about Akmal and he ended up humiliated.
One of the text message jokes about Akmal was: “What do Akmal and Michael Jackson have in common? Both wear gloves for nothing.”
Another joke was: “What is Akmal’s famous favourite line: “Can I drop you somewhere?” In fact, the joke about Akmal and Jackson was created by the media following a question by a journalist to the then-Pakistan coach Waqar Younis after the New Zealand match in which he was compared to the late pop music icon.
So it was no surprise that, after his whirlwind knock on Monday when he emerged a hero against India, he decided not to address the media.
Akmal has learned that in cricket one can go from hero to zero from one day to the next.
However, during the World Cup he seems intent on being a star and he showed that with a knock that stunned everyone at the Premadasa Stadium.
How did he play such unbelievable strokes, many observers wondered. He was even hitting sixes over long-on from outside the off-stump.
Akmal had actually practised some of the strokes that he hit against India. On the day before the warm-up match, at the Moors Sports Club ground he asked the groundsmen to post two young boys near the boundary line and kept hitting sixers one after the other. Most of his shots landed on the roof of the pavilion. Those sixers were hit off Pakistan’s best pacers like Umar Gul, Sohail Tanveer and Mohammad Sami. So it was no surprise that he handled the Indian pace attack of Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji with ease.
Akmal had the last laugh over those who belittled his talent and humiliated him. His bat did the talking while the India bowlers ran for cover.
