Umar Akmal brilliant hit against Faulkner, 3rd Odi 2017

Pakistan middle order batsman Umar Akmal has been criticized for his slow batting in the third ODI against Australia. Umar Akmal consumed too many balls and could not hit boundaries at a stage when his team needed him to fire.

Umar Akmal hit only one six in his innings and from a batsman of his caliber this is quite below average from him. The six itself showed that he could have hit the ball like this a lot of time. Umar Akmal timed this to perfection and the ball went deep into the stands.

The ball was pitched at a normal length and Umar stretched his front leg to the line of the ball and timed it from the middle. This ball went a long way. There is no doubt that this was a perfect shot from Umar. One of the few shots which he did play in the right way.

Umar Akmal batting was below average. In death overs he was seen taking singles despite being well settled. This was not good cricket from him at all. He should have easily managed boundaries which the wicket was offering. Apart from the odd bounce happening once in an over rest the batting was not that difficult on this pitch. Umar Akmal should have gone for more hits. He was settled and that mattered a lot at the end as we saw the results.