Akram Khan thinking of retirement

[fwullah]

Akram Khan is thinking about retiring from International cricket due to family reasons.

Last year Akram Khan's older brother and his inspiration- Iqbal Khan had died, now his mother is ill, and because he has to take up the family business which is in Chittagong, so he will be talking to his family about his retirement. If his family wants him to continue playing, then he will play, and if not, then an announcement of retirement will come possibly next week.

[Sham]

I think it will be a great idea for Akram to retire now. No one denies the contribution he has made to our cricket. But it is now time for him to go. I hope he does well in whatever he takes up after cricket.

[James90]

Yep retire now when he's on top.....maybe he could retire after 1000 ODI runs? I dunno how stat consious he is

[rafiq]

he came in at a difficult time during the world cup and did what he could to add some respectability/experience to the batting. his job is done. I don't see any real batting talent to replace him, though - only mediocre players such as sanwar.

[fwullah]

I think if Akram Khan does give his retirement announcement, then Aminul Islam can get into the test side again - in place of Akram Khan, at least Aminul Islam has a few fifties under his belt - than Sanwar/Pilot.

[Sham]

But I don't think bringing Aminul back is the answer. I think Akram's retirement will give us a good opportunity to bring in one of the youngsters into the squad. I think one out of Nafees/Mazharul/Rajin/Tushar should go to Australia. Even if they don't make it into the first XI in the main games, they will still learn a lot by touring and might get to play a tour game or two.

[Edited on 5-5-2003 by Sham]

[Mahmood]

Aminul's form is so bad this year, his Biman is even in the religation leagu.

He aint coming back to the National team soon.

[fwullah]

Rajin Saleh:

I think Rajin Saleh is not good enough batsman - as a fielder - he is great, but he can't get into the final eleven when there is somebody like Tushar Imran out there.

Sanwar Hossain:

I think Sanwar Hossain is the most likely candidate to replace Akram Khan - but Sanwar is a far better spinner than a batsman; and the only difference between Sanwar and Akram with the bat is only "2" in terms of test batting average.

Tushar Imran:

Tushar Imran is a fine batsman when in form, but he is always struggling in test cricket - but he could play in the tour matches - as you have suggested.

Nafis Iqbal:

I think Nafis Iqbal is too young - and not as successful as Ashraful/Kapali, besides Nafis is probably an opening batsman as far as I can remember. And also I think it would be too harsh on him if his debut test match is against Australia - the best team in the world - due to injury or illness to other players during the tour.

Mazharul Islam Mridul:

Same is on Mridul - too harsh to play his debut test against Australia in Australia. His fitness is not yet tested yet - in test matches. But he is not as young as Nafis Iqbal.

And under the circumstances, I don't see anyone else except Sanwar Hossain to replace Akram Khan straight away - unless Naimur Rahman is also selected for the tour. But with Naimur Rahman, there is also the factor of Naimur not being a test player - and having two one day specialist players in our test team - captain Sujon and Durjoy - it could make matters worst.

[Sham]

The thing is, none of the young players are Test batsmen, yet. But the idea is to prepare them for Test cricket. I can't comment on which one of the players that I named, and you have offered your comments on Fahmida, is the most likely to benefit from an Australia tour. However, I feel that taking atleast one will benefit us in the long-run. As for the individuals themselves, I'll guess I'll leave it to Samir to comment as he has seen most of them play.

[shahid]

I think that we should play some first-class matches against the "a" sides of test nations so as to prepare out players for test cricket. We need to do this as this could help us save an innings defeat against aus.