Test matches have offered little success for Akram Khan, the veteran batsman of Bangladesh. The last match he played was against Zimbabwe and he disappointed his hometown crowd, scoring only 2 & 4 in that Test in Chittagong. He was ruled out for the next away series to New Zealand. Not only that, he was demoted to Bangladesh-A team that were setting off for West Indies to participate in Busta Shield Cup.

Akram's highest Test score is 44 that is against Zimbabwe in April 2001 at Harare. It looked it had been quite a big task for this burly batsman to get by with a good total against those teams, where Habibul Bashar or Aminul Islam came up with some very high-quality knocks. One can't belittle Akram Khan's talents or his contributions for his country. He was reckoned to be the stalwart in Bangladesh batting line-up and he proved his importance in the squad for a good number of occasions.

Trevor Chappell, the coach earlier, repeatedly told about Akram Khan's lack of concentration in batting. It is true in some respect that in the following innings (After Trevor said this) Akram couldn't even pulled off the least success in the longer version. Sanwar Hossain occupied his seat, managed to make a grade in New Zealand, but became a downright failure in the series against Pakistan.

Before flying away to West Indies for Busta Cup Akram gave more attention on his batting that was somewhat lost it's rhythm a bit. The tour brought some jubilant moments for this ace batsman, as he saw more than 400 runs beside his name when the tournament was over. In GrameenPhone Premier league this year he carried off very well, provided his team Abahani with several match-winning knocks (Two blitzing centuries), which cleared the fact that he is finding himself again.

He was fretting too much about his fitness that might reflect on his batting, but it is over now. Akram is working hard on fitness and sharing more hours with batting practice. He is trying to work up his stamina also because the tour to Sri Lanka is at hand. Bangladesh team need someone very capable at hanging on to the crease and we all know Akram can do that in the vital number five position (We saw it in Zimbabwe, April 2001).

He must be looking for a gateway for his familiar position before Bangladesh heads off for Colombo in July the 12th.

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