Pakistan's veteran wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal announced retirement from all forms of cricket on Tuesday (February 7) after being named in the national selection committee.
Akmal, who was earlier named the coach of Babar Azam-led Peshawar Zalmi for the PSL 2023, said, "I don’t think after you come into coaching or become a national selector you can focus on playing.” he said.
Akmal made his debut for Pakistan back in 2002 and went on to play until 2017. In 53 Tests, 157 ODIs and 58 T20Is, the right-handed batter scored 2648, 3236 and 987 runs respectively, with the help of 11 hundreds and 27 fifties. He last donned the national colours in an ODI against the West Indies back in April 2017 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
Kamran, who is the first cousin of Pakistan captain Babar Azam, made it clear he had a lot of respect for the latter's cricketing prowess.
“He is one our great batters and my job as selector and as coach in Zalmi is to help him fine tune himself as a captain and as a batsman. But he has no flaws in his batting this we have seen over the years,” he added.
Former Pakistan legend, Inzamamul Haq, will also serve as team mentor for Babar Azam-led Zalmi side in the exhibition match. Akmal is the second highest run-scorer in PSL’s history with 1972 runs under his belt.
