LAHORE – Pakistani wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal may have played his last international match after his disappointing performance in the ICC CWC semifinal against India in Mohali. ESPN claimed on Thursday that the selectors had decided before the match that if he didn’t perform in the crucial game, they would start looking for replacements. “The fact is that the selectors had decided before the ICC Cricket World Cup that Kamran would no longer be playing Test matches. But they had backed him to perform in the tournament so that he could be considered for limited over cricket,” a source was claimed to have said.
According to the source, if Kamran had performed in the semi-final, he would have remained in contention to continue playing limited-over cricket. “However, according to what the selectors have decided, his Pakistan career is virtually over as they are not happy with either his keeping or batting at this level,” the source said. “For a player who has been around since 2002, their appears to be no consistency or improvement in his keeping or batting and the selectors now believe it is time to find a replacement for him and move on,” the source said. Kamran, 29, has played 53 Tests, 137 ODIs and 38 T20 internationals but in recent times, his wayward keeping abilities and inconsistent batting has disappointed the selectors as well as his fans. The source said the selectors would definitely not be picking Kamran for the forthcoming tour to the West Indies for either format of the game.
