Daily Times

National Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq believes wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal is a strong contender for a spot in Pakistan’s One-Day International (ODI) squad which will take on Australia during the team’s ongoing tour.

Akmal, who last played for Pakistan in 2014, has amassed more than a thousand runs in the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with five centuries.

“Kamran is a strong contender for the selection…his performances just cannot be ignored,” the chief selector said on a private Television channel Monday night.

“If you look at his [Kamran] centuries, they match the contemporary cricket standards,” Inzamam said.

The right-handed batsman, who turns 35 next month, had sought Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Patron Nawaz Sharif’s intervention in the selection matters as he was ignored despite piling up runs.

He had also expressed his intentions to be a part of the national side as a batsman purely.

Asked whether there will be any pressure on the Twenty20 captain Sarfraz Ahmed in case of Akmral’s return, Inzamam said: “There will be no pressure on him [Sarfraz] and we don’t want to put him under any pressure. He like Akmal plays the contemporary cricket. Akmal can play as a batsman in the side.”

To a question regarding English pacer James Anderson’s statement regarding Virat Kohli in which he challenged the batsman to score with such fluency, the former Test captain said: “If Virat has not been able to score in England then he [Anderson] has not been able to pick wickets in India as well.

“Scoring in England is no certificate of being a batsman. He [Virat] is delivering when his team wants him to.”