Mohammad Akram Hussain Khan ( bn, মোহাম্মদ আকরাম হুসেইন খান; born 1 November 1968) is a former Bangladeshi

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. A hard hitting middle order batsman, Akram played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Chittagong Division Chittagong Division, officially known as Chattogram Division, is geographically the largest of the eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. It covers the south-easternmost areas of the country, with a total area of and a population at the 2 ...

. He is currently the chief selector of the BCB, along with

Habibul Bashar Qazi Habibul Bashar ( bn, কাজী হাবিবুল বাশার; born 17 August 1972) is a retired Bangladeshi cricketer and the former captain of the Bangladesh cricket team. Under the managership of Dav Whatmore, he has been fo ...

and

Minhajul Abedin Minhajul Abedin Nannu ( bn, মিনহাজুল আবেদিন নান্নু; born 25 September 1965) is a former Bangladeshi cricketer who played in 27 One Day Internationals from 1986 to 1999. He captained Bangladesh twice duri ...

. Akram Khan was part of Bangladesh's inaugural

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

, in 2000–01 against India. He had been playing

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

cricket since 1988. He developed as an international player under the able guidance of

Gazi Ashraf Gazi Ashraf Hossain ( bn, গাজী আশরাফ হোসেন; born 29 December 1960), also known as Lipu, is a former Bangladeshi cricketer who captained the Bangladesh national cricket team in its first seven One Day International (O ...

Lipu.

Early life

Akram Khan was born in the port city of

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

. His paternal '' Khan'' family is a prestigious family in the city, migrated from

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

. His brother is reputed footballer Iqbal Khan, making Akram the uncle of Bangladeshi cricketers Nafees and

Tamim Iqbal Tamim Iqbal Khan (Bengali: তামিম ইকবাল খান; born 20 March 1989), more popularly known as Tamim Iqbal, is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is the nephew of former Bangladesh skipper Akram Khan, the current chief selector of ...

International career

He was already well into his 30s when he played in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

's inaugural match. He finished his short Test career with a moderate average of 16.18. His highest, 44, came against

Zimbabwe cricket team The Zimbabwe national cricket team, also known as the Chevrons, represents Zimbabwe in men's international cricket and is overseen by Zimbabwe Cricket (formerly known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union). Zimbabwe has been a Full Member of the Int ...

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

in 2001. He made his

debut in October 1988, in his hometown

. Batting at No. 8, he defied the strong Pak bowling attack scoring 21* of 35 deliveries. He captained

in the Asia Cup at

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

in 1995. He was the team's most consistent performer scoring 24, 24 & 44 against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Sri-Lanka and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

respectively. His first ODI 50 came against

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

in 1997. There he shared a 110 run partnership with

Athar Ali Khan Athar Ali Khan ( bn, আতহার আলী খান; born 10 February 1962) is a Bangladeshi cricket commentator and former cricketer. Throughout the 1980s, Athar played as a middle order batsman, batting mostly at No. 4 or 5. Later on, en ...

. His highest ODI score of 65, came at

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

in 1999. He followed this with 50* against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. He played in two WCs, in 1999 & in 2003. He played a large part in

's upset win in 1999 World Cup over

with an innings of 42. His most memorable moment came in the 1997

ICC Trophy The ICC World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the Cricket World Cup qualifi ...

, as he lifted the cup for his side. He contributed a quickfire 22 off 27 balls, including a six and a four, in the final. Earlier, he had played a captain's knock in the do-or-die game against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. His 68* helped

win by 3 wicket.

were struggling at 15/4, chasing a small total, after the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

fast bowler Lefebre demolished the top order. Then Akram Khan changed the course of the match with two half-century partnerships with the veteran

and the medium-pacer Saiful Islam. Overall, he finished the tournament with 185 runs at an average of 37.00. His effort against the Dutch is not his only match winning innings in

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

Trophy history. In 1994, batting at No. 7, he scored 64* against USA, taking his team from 36/5 to 147/7, winning the match by 3 wickets. And in 1990, he took

to a vital 3 wicket win against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

with a knock of 42*. Overall, in 24 matches in 3

tournaments, he scored 476 runs at an average of 36.61. Also, bowling his gentle medium pacers, he took 10 wickets with an impressive average of 18.7.

International captaincy

He took the captaincy of the national side at a difficult time during the 1994–95 season. Following the disappointment of the 1994

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, there was dissatisfaction and disunity among the players. Akram, who was an established member of the side was selected to lead the side. This seemed slightly risky, as the

batsman had little previous experience as captain. But, he performed admirably, leading his side to some memorable successes. In December, 1994, he led his side to the final of

1994–95 SAARC Quadrangular The 2nd SAARC cricket tournament was the second edition of the tournament. It held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in December 1994. Teams from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka participated in the tournament. Bangladesh, still an associate member ...

cricket tournament in

. He batted bravely in the final, top-scoring with 66(before falling to leg spin of

Sairaj Bahutule Sairaj Bahutule (born 6 January 1973, Bombay, Maharashtra, India) is a former Indian cricketer. He is an allrounder who specializes in leg spin bowling. He played domestic cricket for Mumbai and later on with Vidarbha. Playing career Stand ...

). But his side lost by 52 runs to India 'A', led by Praveen Amre. In 1996, he led

to victory in the South East Asian Cricket. It was followed by a bigger triumph in

(1997) in KL. He also led

to their first ever ODI win. After Mohammad Rafique &

posted a century opening stand, Akram's quickfire 39 (from just 51 deliveries) took Bangladesh to 237/4, winning by 6 wickets against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

.
Cricinfo scorecard: Bangladesh v Kenya 17 May 1998 (Retrieved on 2008-07-27) He is the first ODI win captain in Bangladesh.

Relatives

His family has produced a number of other cricketers. In recent times, his nephews

Nafees Iqbal Mohammad Nafees Iqbal Khan ( bn, মোহাম্মদ নাফিস ইকবাল খান; born 31 January 1985), better known as Nafees Iqbal, is a former Bangladeshi international cricketer. He played as a right-handed opening batsman ...

and

have worn national colors. Both of them are opening bats. While right-handed Nafees Iqbal has lost his form after some initial successes, his younger brother, left-handed Tamim, became the most successful run-scorer for Bangladesh.

References

External links

*
'I found international cricket easier than domestic matches'
by Mohammad Isam at

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Akram 1968 births Living people Bangladesh Test cricketers Bangladesh One Day International cricketers Bangladeshi cricket captains Bangladeshi cricketers 20th-century Bangladeshi cricketers 21st-century Bangladeshi cricketers Chittagong Division cricketers Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup People from Chittagong Bangladeshi cricket coaches Abahani Limited cricketers Recipients of the Bangladesh National Sports Award Commonwealth Games competitors for Bangladesh Khan cricketing family Bangladeshi Sunni Muslims Bangladeshi people of Bihari descent 21st-century Muslims