Kamran Akmal bids farewell to cricket

KARACHI: The country’s renowned wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal on Tuesday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

Addressing a press conference in the port city, Akmal said he is now focused on new roles in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

“Obviously, I will not be playing cricket anymore due to new roles in PCB,” responded Kamran who was added to the national men’s selection committee alongside Yasir Hameed and Mohammad Sami with Haroon Rashid as chairman.

“I will be playing small leagues but that too depends on my responsibilities in a new role given to me by PCB,” he added.

Kamran also refused to blame anyone behind him for being sidelined from cricket.

The right-hander, who is an all-time second-highest run-scorer in Pakistan Super League (PSL) with 1,972 runs in 74 innings, went unpicked in the eighth edition’s players’ draft.

He is currently working as a batting mentor with Peshawar Zalmi for a week.

The batter represented Pakistan in 53 Tests, 157 ODIs, and 58 T20Is and last played an international match back in 2017 in West Indies.

Earlier, Umar Akmal was hopeful for his brother Kamran’s successful run as national men’s team selector.

Speaking to Geosuper.tv on Saturday, Umar said Kamran knows cricket very well and he will give players fair chances.

“Kamran has always been very kind to not only me but all the cricketers. Everybody learns from him,” he said.

“I am sure he will give fair chances to players. I wish him the best of luck,” he added.

Meanwhile, former skipper Shahid Afridi also backed PCB's decision to appoint Kamran as chief of the selection committee which will select players in trials for U13, U16, and U19 regional and district teams.

Speaking to a local television channel, Afridi said Akmal is a good choice as a selector at the junior level.

"Kamran is honest and hard-working. I think he is a good choice to select players at the junior level. He is bold and will not take any pressure in the selection of players," he said.