… replaces Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan

PAKISTAN’S explosive batsman Umar Akmal has signed a deal with Guyana Amazon Warriors for the 2015 edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tournament.
The 25-year-old replaced Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan, according to Teams Operations Manager, Omar Khan yesterday.
Akmal, who has to his credit an impressive 1 293 runs in 58 innings in his Twenty-20 career, will join the team in July 4 in St Kitts after finishing his stint with Leicestershire in the ongoing NatWest T20 Blast.
However, Chronicle Sport was reliably informed that if Akmal is picked for the Pakistan limited-overs side he will have to proceed to Sri Lanka on national duty for the five ODIs and two T20Is, with the first ODI on July 11 and the second T20 on August 1. The CPL runs from June 20 to July 26.
This would be his second spell in the tournament as he had previously played for Barbados Tridents in 2013.
He had a disappointing return of 49 runs from six games before he suffered a seizure on a flight to Jamaica and was called back to Pakistan by the PCB for medical examination.
Further, Khan pointed out that Akmal will be a great asset to the team, giving his vast experience in this format of the game.
“Definitely he (Akmal) will be a great asset to the Warriors makeup. He is in extremely good batting form and is also an attacking batsman, who will fit in the middle order perfectly,” Khan, the former West Indies Team Manager, declared.
Akmal was quoted from the PakPassion website that he is really looking forward to playing in the CPL again, adding that cricket is always fast-paced in this format. (Rajiv Bisnauth)