Kamran Akmal, who has represented Pakistan in 52 Tests, 157 ODIs, and 28 T20Is, said he never felt that Sri Lanka had left England as he was left disappointed with Pakistan’s performance in the first ODI against second-string England consisting of 5 debutants after the England selectors named a fresh 18 men team after Covid outbreak in the team announced earlier.
Kamran Akmal slammed Pakistan for losing the first ODI in Cardiff on Thursday to an inexperienced England side that had five debutants in. Pakistan was outplayed in all three departments of the game as the hosts took a 1-0 lead.
Kamran Akmal Doesn’t Understand Which Way Pakistan’s Performance Is Heading
Kamran Akmal, who last played for Pakistan in 2017, said neither their cricket nor their selection process is right. The wicketkeeper-batsman said it was hard to understand how an in-form team that had beaten South Africa can go down like this to a second-string England side.
“I don’t understand which way our performance is heading. It should get better by the day but Pakistan had a fully confident team who had played PSL, beaten South Africa. Wins and losses are part and parcel but the character needs to be shown now. Neither our cricket nor our selection process is right,” Kamran Akmal said on his YouTube channel.
Sent in to bat first, Pakistan got off to the worst possible start by losing two wickets inside the first three balls of the match. Saqib Mahmood ran through the Pakistan top-order and he was well supported by Lewis Gregory, who too struck from the other end. Pakistan never recovered from the early jolts and was skittled out for 141 in 35.2 overs.
In reply, Dawid Malan and Zak Crawley struck unbeaten half-centuries as England chased the target down in just 22 overs with nine wickets in the bank.
Kamran Akmal: It Felt As If England Was Playing Against Sri Lanka
Disappointed with Pakistan’s performance, Kamran Akmal, who has represented Pakistan in 52 Tests, 157 ODIs, and 28 T20Is, said he never felt that Sri Lanka had left England.
“The way Pakistan played cricket, it didn’t feel as if Sri Lanka had left England. It felt as if England was playing against Sri Lanka itself. England did something that Pakistan should have done, bowling the opposition out for 141. Ben Stokes’ captaincy was outstanding,” Kamran Akmal stated.
Sri Lanka had lost all the matches of their limited-overs series against England.
“They had so many new players but to bowl out an in-form Pakistan batting line for 141 was creditable. If we had scored 250 then we could have put pressure on their batting line-up. We had a better bowling attack than them. Gregory took the new ball for England, that tells you a story,” Akmal said.
It has been 36 years since England put out a side with so few caps (135, with Ben Stokes accounting for 99 of them and James Vince 17 more). Ultimately, there were five new caps in the England side, the most since the ODI against Ireland in May 2015.
Top-order batters Zak Crawley and Phil Salt, wicketkeeper John Simpson, seam-bowling allrounder Lewis Gregory and fast bowler Brydon Carse all made their debuts. Zak Crawley and Lewis Gregory had played Test cricket and T20Is respectively, but the other three had no experience of international cricket.
Two days before the one-day series was scheduled to begin, England announced that seven of its personnel — three players and four members of the backroom staff — had tested positive for coronavirus. With the rest of the squad instructed to isolate after being identified as close contacts, the tour — featuring three ODIs and three Twenty20 matches — could have been in jeopardy but the England and Wales Cricket Board hastily assembled an entirely new 18-strong squad from across England’s county game.
England 142 for 1 (Malan 68*, Crawley 58*) beat Pakistan 141 (Zaman 47, Mahmood 4-42) by nine wickets