Whatmore wants Umar to work hard at domestic level

Dav Whatmore, the coach of the Pakistan cricket team, feels that Umar Akmal is among the most talented batsmen in world cricket at the moment and urged the right-hander to work harder on his game at the domestic level to regain his place in the national team.

The 22-year-old cricketer came through the ranks of junior cricket in the country, having represented Pakistan in the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2008 in Malaysia. Akmal made his international debut a year later and cemented his place in the limited-overs squad.

The stylish right-hander has played a number of match-winning knocks for the Green Shirts; however, he has been a little inconsistent over the years and has so far failed to justify his potential at the ultimate level of the sport. The middle-order batsman has been dropped from the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 squad.

Quoted by Pakpassion, the national coach expressed that the young cricketer from Lahore does not need to lose heart and should take his omission from the national team as an opportunity to enhance his skills and temperament. The former Australian cricketer made it clear that the gates of international cricket are still wide open for the talented stroke-maker.

“My message for Umar is that he needs to go back and work extremely hard in domestic cricket and make plenty of runs, because his ability is such that it deserves to be seen at the highest level of cricket,” Whatmore believes. “Unfortunately he’s not in the Champions Trophy squad but if he works hard in domestic cricket, he can make a comeback.”

Whatmore is happy with the Green Shirts’ preparation for the mega event but feels that adjusting to the English climate will be the key to Pakistan’s success.

“We prepared well in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy at the camp in Abbottabad before we came over to Scotland, but we have to acclimatise here in the United Kingdom as it’s much cooler than it was in Pakistan,” he added.

The global event is going to be played next month, with Misbah-ul-Haq and company placed in group B along with South Africa, India and West Indies.