Sunday, 7 September 2014

Umar Gull

Umar Gull Biography

Umar Gul,born 14 April 1984,is a Pakistani right arm fast medium bowler in cricket who has played Test matches, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals for the Pakistani cricket team. He has gained fame as one of the most successful bowlers in Twenty20 cricket finishing as the leading wicket taker and bowler in both the 2007 and 2009 Twenty20 World Championship tournaments.Umar Gul is the second most highest wicket taker(74) in Twenty20 International cricket,only behind Saeed Ajmal.He won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year 2013.

Gul was born in Peshawar of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan he was born in a middle-class family and frequently played tape-ball cricket. People on the street encouraged Gul to become an international cricketer as they saw his excellent bowling. On October 2010 Gul's family announced that he was to wed a Dubai Doctor. The doctor is from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and was born there as well. Gul's first daughter, Rehab Umar, was born in May 2012.In the same month, Pakistan Army Commandos mistakenly raided Umar Gul's house in Peshawar and arrested his brother Meeraj Gul on the charge of hiding a wanted militant. However, the commandos later on apologized to Meeraj.

The least-hyped but most successful and assured Pakistan pace product of the last few years, Umar Gul is the latest in Pakistan's assembly-line of pace-bowling talent. He had played just nine first-class matches when called up for national duty in the wake of Pakistan's poor 2003 World Cup. On the flat tracks of Sharjah, Gul performed admirably, maintaining excellent discipline and getting appreciable outswing with the new ball.

He isn't express but bowls a very quick heavy ball and his exceptional control and ability to extract seam movement marks him out. Further, his height enables him to extract bounce on most surfaces and from his natural back of a length, it is a useful trait. His first big moment in his career came in the Lahore Test against India in 2003-04. Unfazed by a daunting batting line-up, Gul tore through the Indian top order, moving the ball both ways off the seam at a sharp pace. His 5 for 31 in the first innings gave Pakistan the early initiative which they drove home to win the Test.

Unfortunately, that was his last cricket of any kind for over a year as he discovered three stress fractures in his back immediately after the Test. The injury would have ended many an international career, but Gul returned, fitter and sharper than before in late 2005. He returned in a Pakistan shirt against India in the ODI series at home in February 2006 and in Sri Lanka showed further signs of rehabilitation by lasting both Tests but it was really the second half of 2006, where he fully came of age. Leading the attack against England and then the West Indies as Pakistan's main bowlers suffered injuries, Gul stood tall, finishing Pakistan's best bowler.

Since then, as Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar have floundered, Gul has become Pakistan's spearhead and one of the best fast bowlers in the world. He is smart enough and good enough to succeed in all three formats and 2009 proved it: he put together a patch of wicket-taking in ODIs, on dead pitches in Tests (including a career-best six-wicket haul against Sri Lanka) and established himself as the world's best Twenty20 bowler, coming on after the initial overs and firing in yorkers on demand.

He had hinted at that by being leading wicket-taker in the 2007 World Twenty20; over the next two years he impressed wherever he went, in the IPL for the Kolkatta Knight Riders and in Australia's domestic Twenty20 tournament. Confirmation came on the grandest stage: having poleaxed Australia in a T20I in Dubai with 4-8, he was the best bowler and leading wicket-taker as Pakistan won the second World Twenty20 in England. The highlight was 5-6 against New Zealand, the highest quality exhibition of yorker bowling. He is not a one-format pony, however, and will remain a crucial cog in Pakistan's attack across all formats.

Umar Gull

Umar Gull

Umar Gull

Umar Gull

Umar Gull

Umar Gull

Umar Gull


Umar Gull


Umar Gull


Umar Gull

Umar Gull

Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal Biography

Kamran Akmal ,born 13 January 1982, is a Pakistani cricketer who has played Tests, ODIs and T20Is for Pakistan as a wicket-keeper.He is a right-handed batsman. Akmal started his international career in November 2002 with a Test match which Pakistan won at Harare Sports Club.He has made 2648 runs in 53 Test matches with the help of six centuries, while in 137 ODIs, he has scored 2924 runs with the help of five centuries. In T20Is, he has scored 704 runs.As a wicket-keeper, he has dismissed 206, 169 and 52 batsmen in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively.

Kamran Akmal comes from a large family, of which two of his brothers, Adnan Akmal and Umar Akmal, are also professional cricketers, the former being a keeper-batsman and the latter being a specialist batsman as well as part-time wicket-keeper. He married in 2006 and lives with his wife, Aaiza, and their daughter, Laiba.He is a graduate of Beaconhouse School System Garden Town, Lahore.

Kamran Akmal is a quick-scoring batsman and a wicket-keeper, who has achieved 6 centuries in Test innings. However, his first century was vital – his 109 from the number eight position at Mohali, coming in with Pakistan in a lead of 39 against India in the first Test, ensured that the visitors could draw the match. His form against the touring English in 2005 made him one of the most important players in the team. Naturally, he is a batsman that plays lower down the order but has sometimes opened in both Test and One-day cricket. As an opener he has scored two back to back centuries in ODIs against England. Coming in lower down the order in Test matches, he played one memorable innings. He saved Pakistan from a score of 39/6, scoring a century, to a competitive 245 which helped Pakistan win the match and the series.

His batting was highly productive in early 2006 as he scored seven international hundreds within the space of 6 months. Since his tour of England in Summer 2006 however his batting form dwindled and steadily become worse. His wicket-keeping also worsened and dropped many catches on both the England tour and on a tour to South Africa in early 2007. He then scored an international hundred in the Bangladeshi tour of Pakistan in 2008. He later moved to have some injuries and did not play for some days but later he was again brought into the team.

Akmal was dropped for the Asia Cup 2008 as a result of his poor wicket-keeping. He was replaced by Sarfraz Ahmed who performed very well at the domestic level and also because of Sarfraz's strong showing in the U-19 World Cup. Akmal was named in the 30 man probable squad for the 2008 ICC Champions Trophy.

Akmal was part of the Pakistan team that won the T20 World Cup in 2009. He was notable for his quick stumpings, dismissing 4 batsmen in one match against Netherlands.

On 12 November 2008, Akmal hit two consecutive 6s in the last over. As a result Pakistan won the first ODI in Abu Dhabi against West Indies.

On 17 July 2010, Akmal was appointed the vice-captain of the Pakistani test squad but later removed because of his alleged involvement in spot fixing.

In August 2012, Akmal was recalled for the three ODI series against Australia.

Kamran Akmal may well be the most emphatic proof of cricket's changed priorities post Adam Gilchrist. Sides now search for an explosive batsman who can change a day, an innings, a phase with the bat and so long as you can identify right wicketkeeping glove from left, the place is yours.

There has been little doubt about Akmal's batting. The purity of his drives and the strength of his cutting and pulling, particularly on slower subcontinent surfaces, has always held a strong allure. And when it comes together as it did one January morning in Karachi against India - one of the Test innings of that decade - he makes it in the side as a batsman alone.

But his glovework, which began so promisingly when he effectively ended the dogfight between Rashid Latif and Moin Khan in late 2004, has deteriorated alarmingly and few Pakistan matches are complete without a clumsy Akmal error.

It wasn't always thus, for he was good when he began, good enough to impress Ian Healy. But non-stop cricket in all three formats have let technical errors creep in and critics and experts have long pushed for the need for him to take a break.

To quality spin, he is often as lost as the batsmen and Danish Kaneria, over the years, has suffered in particular. In a string of error-ridden performances, the one nobody will forget will be the four dropped catches (and a missed run-out) in the Sydney Test of 2009-10, which allowed Australia to escape with a remarkable, traumatic win. Against this the memory of his Karachi hundred will always battle, with no clear winner ever likely to emerge. 

Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal


Kamran Akmal


Kamran Akmal


Kamran Akmal



  Kamran Akmal


Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq Biography

Abdul Razzaq ,born 2 December 1979, is a Pakistani right arm fast-medium bowler and a right-handed batsman and a member of Pakistan cricket team. He emerged in international cricket in 1996 with his One Day International debut against Zimbabwe at his home ground in Gaddafi Stadium, Pakistan, just one month before his seventeenth birthday. He has played 265 ODIs and 46 Tests for Pakistan.

In 2000, Razzaq became the youngest cricketer in the world to take a Test cricket hat trick in a match against Sri Lanka. He has scored three centuries and twenty two fifties in One Day International matches. His highest score was 112 runs, against South Africa in 2002, where he shared a partnership of 257 runs with Pakistani batsman Saleem Elahi. His second century was scoring 107 runs not out in a match against Zimbabwe in 2004. During this match, he saved Pakistan from a disastrous start and eventually won them the match. His first fifty came in 90 deliveries, before accelerating in the second fifty runs, which was scored in just 21 balls. Also in 2003–2004, he scored 89 runs from 40 balls against New Zealand, whose captain Stephen Fleming called him the "best hitter" in the world.

Abdul Razzaq was once rapid enough to open the bowling and remains composed enough to bat anywhere, though he is discovering that the lower-order suits him nicely. His bowling - the reason he was first noticed - is characterised by a galloping approach, accuracy, and reverse-swing. But it is his batting that is more likely to win matches. He boasts a prodigious array of strokes and is particularly strong driving through cover and mid-off off both front and back foot. He has two gears: block or blast. Cut off the big shots and Razzaq gets bogged down, although patience is his virtue as he demonstrated in a match-saving fifty against India in Mohali in 2005. Just prior to that he had also played a bewilderingly slow innings in Australia, scoring four runs in over two hours. When the occasion demands it though, as ODIs often do, he can still slog with the best of them.

It has hardly been smooth sailing though through his career. He suffered a slump, particularly in his bowling, between 2002 and 2004 when, though his place in the team wasn't under threat, there was uncertainty over how best to use him. But there were signs he was rediscovering some of his old guile if not his pace and nip. And if the pitch is in anyway helpful to seam - as it was in his first and only Test five-wicket haul at Karachi in 2004 or against India at the same venue in January 2006 - he can be a proper danger. Though Kamran Akmal's hundred overshadowed all in the Karachi win over India, Razzaq's performance was easily his most emphatic as an allrounder: he scored 45 and 90 as well as taking seven wickets in the match. A combination of injuries and poor form put his Test place into question and a knee injury days before the 2007 World Cup meant Pakistan missed his presence in a disastrous campaign.

A lackluster comeback to international cricket against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi and mediocre performance in the practice matches saw Razzaq being omitted from the 15-man squad for the Twenty20 World Championship and consequently announce his retirement from international cricket. He then went on to sign for Worcestershire towards the end of the county season as well as signing up with the Indian Cricket League, which ruled him out of Pakistan contention. He took back his decision to retire but committed himself to the ICL for two seasons, during which he served the Hyderabad Heroes as one of their star players.

After a global amnesty and quitting the ICL, he was welcomed back to the Pakistan fold for the World Twenty20 in England and made an immediate impact as Pakistan won the tournament. His Test comeback also looked set to be complete after he was included in Pakistan's 15-man squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in June. Early in his career he promised to be Pakistan's most complete allrounder since Imran Khan, and though for a variety of reasons he hasn't translated that into achievement, his country wouldn't mind having just a very solid all rounder.

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq


Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq

Abdul Razzaq

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal Biography

Umar Akmal born 26 May 1990 is a Pakistani cricketer. He made his ODI debut on 1 August 2009 against Sri Lanka and made his Test debut against New Zealand on 23 November 2009. He is a right-handed batsman and a part-time spinner. Like his two brothers, Adnan and Kamran, Umar has kept wicket for the national team and his wife name is noor Fatima.

He was announced as a Franchise Player for the inaugural Caribbean Premier League alongside Pakistani teammates Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik

Umar represented Pakistan in the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia. After his success at the U-19 level he earned himself a first class contract and played the 2007-08 season of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, representing the Sui Southern Gas team. He is considered a future asset for Pakistan cricket.

He is an aggressive style cricketer. In only his sixth first class match he smashed 248 off just 225 deliveries, including four sixes. He followed that up with an unbeaten 186 in his 8th first class match, off just 170 balls. He fared less well in his second season of first class cricket, with a string of low scores batting at number 3.

He found form in the final few matches of the 2008/09 season and then in the RBS T20 tournament thus getting the selectors nod to play for Pakistan A side on their tour to Australia A.

Umar came to prominence during the Australia A tour in June/July 2009. In the two Test matches he recorded scores of 54, 100*, 130, 0. In the ODI series that followed Umar continued his fine form with a century in the opening ODI encounter off just 68 deliveries.

These performances made him gather considerable praise from the media who were there to witness him and calls began to grow about his inclusion in the ODI series for the main Pakistan side against Sri Lanka.

Umar made his Test debut against New Zealand at Dunedin on 23 November 2009. On the third day of his debut test, Umar Akmal hit 129 runs from 160 balls becoming only the second Pakistani to score a hundred on debut away from home after Fawad Alam.

This feat also made him the first Pakistani batsman to score both his maiden Test and ODI century away from home, following his ODI century against Sri Lanka. The innings was noted as special due to Pakistan's tough position in the match and the hundred partnership which Akmal was involved in alongside his elder brother Kamran. He followed up the century in the first innings with a fifty in the second innings.

In only his second Test match he was moved up the order to the crucial spot of number 3, where he struggled initially but managed to counter-attack the hostile bowling with his natural flair, making 46 before he was undone by an inswinger by Daryl Tuffey.

In the second innings he was moved down the order to his usual batting spot of number 5 as captain Mohammed Yousuf chose to bat at number 3 himself, and Akmal looked his usual aggressive self throughout his innings of 52 which came off only 33 balls.
He had his first failure in the first innings of the third test at Napier where he was caught in the gully for a duck but scored a rearguard 77 in the second, promoting him to the leading run scorer of the series. Akmal finished the tour with 400 runs at an average of 57.14.

Umar Akmal's early success was briefly tarnished by a controversy during Pakistan's 2009–10 tour of Australia. It was widely reported that Umar had feigned an injury to protest the dropping of older brother Kamran for the final Test match against Australia.

Umar Akmal burst onto the international scene oozing class, and drawing the highest praise from experts. In his first Test innings, against New Zealand in Dunedin against an attack which included Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori, the 19-year-old Umar scored 129 in an innings when no other specialist batsman touched 30. His fearlessness at the crease and his wide array of strokes had pundits gushing for superlatives, as throughout that series and on the tour to Australia which followed, Umar consistently got starts. Given that he had also scored a century in his third ODI, and that Pakistan were on the lookout for middle-order talent, it appeared Umar would be a certainty in the team in all formats for several years to come.

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal

Umar Akmal


Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad Biography

Ahmed Shehzad is a Pakistani cricketer. He plays domestic cricket for Habib Bank Limited. He made his One Day International debut for Pakistan on 24 April 2009 against Australia.

Ahmed Shehzad aims to be an aggressive batsman like Ricky Ponting, and he is well on his way if his top-order performances for Pakistan Under-19s are any indication. Shehzad made his first-class debut in January 2007, just two months after his 15th birthday, and has since established himself as an opening batsman for the U-19 team. His 167 in the same year helped Pakistan chase down a stiff 342 in the first Youth Test against England in Derby. He backed that up with impressive performances at home, scoring 315 runs - with a highest of 105 - as Australia Under-19s were thrashed 5-0. Another century followed in the Youth Test against Bangladesh, and he carried that form into the triangular tournament in Sri Lanka in 2008, which Pakistan won. He made it to the Pakistan Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka the following year despite not being in the probables. A century in the tour game against the visitors changed his fortunes. He returned to the Under-19 circuit to represent Pakistan in the World Cup in New Zealand.

In limited-overs domestic cricket Ahmed Shehzad plays for Lahore Lions and in June 2011 during the Faysal Bank T-20 Super Eights Shehzad top scored the innings by scoring 74 of 47 balls imposing a mammoth total of 218 against the opposition Sialkot Stallions who in turn were bowled out for 173 Shehzad took two-catches and a wicket as well he was rewarded man-of the match for his superb performances.

Shehzad made his debut for Pakistan in a one-day international against Australia on 29 April 2009. In his maiden match he scored one boundary before he was run-out. The following match he scored 40 in an innings that included 4 fours. The third match he scored 43 but this time just scored 2 fours and in the final match of the series he scored 19 with 1 boundary to his name before he was given out leg-before.

These consistent performances meant that Shehzad made his Twenty20 debut against Australia scoring a single boundary before being caught in the deep. Despite a failure in the Twenty20 Shehzad was selected for the Pakistan squad in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 he only played one-game which was the opening game against England being caught by Paul Collingwood Pakistan changed their combination removing Shehzad and his partner Salman Butt and replaced them with Shahzaib Hasan and Kamran Akmal.

After spending most of the sidelines on the fringes of national selection Shehzad played in the three-match Twenty20 series against New Zealand scoring 14 runs of just 7 balls in an innings that included 2 fours and 1 six. Shehzad showcase his ability to time the ball and to score runs at a quick pace therefore in the following match he started to feel comfortable on New Zealand wickets scoring a watchful 15 of 14 balls in an innings that included 1 four, this time he showcase his ability to remain calm in a situation where the middle order was collapsing around him. After batting at number 3 for these two matches Shehzad replaced Shahid Afridi as opener and scored his maiden Twenty20 half-century scoring 54 of just 34 balls in an innings that included 10 fours. After performing well in the three Twenty20's the Pakistan selectors selected Shehzad for the six-match ODI seri es against New Zealand with a potential place as a World Cup opener also available. After scoring 115 an ODI against New Zealand during the series, Shehzad was given a place in the Pakistan world cup squad.

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad