Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batsman Umar Akmal had a forgettable match in the T20I series opener versus Sri Lanka at the Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore on Saturday (October 5). Coming out to bat at No. 3, the right-hander fell for a golden duck and thus attained a dubious record in the process. The 29-year-old is now the joint-second in the list of most ducks in T20I career. He joined the likes of Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Luke Wright (England) and Kevin O’Brien (Ireland) with Dilshan leading with ten ducks followed by nine each from Wright, O’Brien and Akmal.
In addition, the Pakistani batsman now has most ducks from his side in the shortest format of the game. He was trapped lbw off Nuwan Pradeep on his first delivery and failed to trouble the scorers in the home side’s run-chase of 166. As a result, Pakistan’s batsmen fell like nine pins and no one showed the composure to take the game deeper for the desired result. Iftikhar Ahmed and skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed were the top scorers as the Men in Green bundled out for 101 all-out in 17.4 overs to lose by 64 runs.
Umar Akmal has been a part of the international arena since 2009. While he had a good start to his career but soon fell apart due to disciplinary issues, fitness and dwindling form from time to time.
