Is Akram Khan's position at stake?

Sanwar Hossain batted superbly on Tuesday against MCA-XI to run up a rescuing 124, which gives him the hopes to enter the national side that are taking on Zimbabwe on November on home ground.

In fact Sanwar ought to have a seat in the Bangladesh team earlier. His merit as a middle order batsman is verified - in domestic leagues and zonal matches. Both in Green Delta & premier League 2000-2001, Sanwar never suffered from run drought, but those achievements had gone disprized.

As a batsman he is dexterous in the both versions of the game - particularly for the longer version because he possess the rare quality for a Bangladeshi batsman to hang on to the crease with required patience and responsibility. Being a batsman in slot four or five Sanwar always found it hard to hit the eyes of the selectors - only because the veteran duo Aminul Islam and Akram Khan were the firm holders of those positions.

Now, we see Aminul Islam has consolidated his number four slot after that 56 in Colombo. He has already got a century and two half centuries. But the burly Akram Khan, the big fellow of Bangladesh cricket and the owner of most of the half centuries (5) for his country in ODI, is struggling for a big score in his eight Test innings, which has exposed his position to risks.

His highest is 44 against Zimbabwe, an innings that saw a wretched finish after a superb start. We witnessed a couple of similar dejected innings from this ace batsman, which shores up the suggestion that he is lacking his concentration. The present Aussie coach of Bangladesh has shared the same view - yes, he can't put things in right order.

Akram's recurring failure eventually cost his position in the Colombo Test; besides he was not pulling with in the one-days too. His bad days are turning worse now because the position of number five is perhaps going to be threatened by Sanwar Hossain's salvaging innings in India. Is Akram Khan going to see the axe?

Sanwar has another plus point that he is an off-spinner who takes regular wickets in domestic leagues. At this point he could be a helping hand to Naimur or other specialist spinners. So, Akram has to prove his worth in the nets and satisfy the selectors. Still he is regarded as one of the best batsmen who is currently passing through bad-patches.

But the Zimbabweans are arriving pretty soon and Akram has very little time to muffle his failures and Sanwar Hossain is inhaling near his shoulder.