PALLEKELE – Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said Thursday that blundering wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal will not be made a scapegoat and fans should expect a traditional World Cup rollercoaster ride. The 29-year-old Akmal has endured a blitz of criticism after his calamitous performance against New Zealand where two horror blunders allowed Ross Taylor to escape on nought and eight before the batsman smashed an unbeaten 131. New Zealand’s 110-run win was Pakistan’s first defeat in the tournament and prompted calls for Akmal’s younger brother Umar to be handed the gloves for the remaining group games against Zimbabwe and Australia. That would leave Kamran to play as a specialist batsman, even being promoted to open.
Umar, who kept wicket in three Twenty20 internationals and a one-dayer last year, was seen practising keeping in the team’s net session on Thursday. “Kamran has done a lot of hard work for this World Cup, but he has not lived up to that level, and we suffered a lot after he couldn’t perform,” said Afridi. His lapses allowed New Zealand to post 302-7 in Tuesday’s game, after mustering a whopping 100 runs off the last five overs, after struggling at 202-4 in 45 overs.
