Dhaka, Oct 6 (V7N) – Rangpur Division captain Akbar Ali believes the crunch moment brings the best out of him, a trend he showed more often as his fighting 64 helped his side survive a major batting collapse and secure a draw against Dhaka in the first round of the 28th National Cricket League (NCL) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium today.

Akbar's love affair with the crisis moment was exposed very early in his career when he played an epic 43 runs to help Bangladesh beat India in the nervy Under-19 World Cup final in 2020. Despite leading a Bangladesh side to the highest and only laurel in any global event, Akbar's career did not bloom as brightly as some of his World Cup-winning teammates. But his panache for playing crucial knocks never faded. Whenever the moment demanded, Akbar had a knack for rising to the occasion.

Rangpur were in serious trouble after losing wickets at regular intervals, but Akbar stood firm at a difficult stage of the match to help the team avoid a defeat and eke out a draw.

While he has developed a reputation for producing useful contributions when his team is under pressure, he said he lives for those moments. "It is difficult for me to say why I do well at such times. But I enjoy those moments a little. I enjoy the challenge, that's all I can say," Akbar said. "And I am happy that we were able to come out of that crisis moment as a team."

Akbar said his priority was not to chase victory but to spend enough time at the crease to ensure Rangpur did not lose. "When I came out to bat, we actually had no chance of winning the match. So we had to bat for two hours; otherwise, there was a chance of a negative result," he said. "Since we were playing to save the match, the approach was simply to bat for two to two and a half hours."

The innings also helped Akbar answer questions about his recent form. The wicketkeeper-batter admitted that his Dhaka Premier League (DPL) campaign had fallen short of his expectations but dismissed the suggestion that he had been consistently out of form over the past year. "I feel that the way I have been batting over the past year, I haven't really been out of form," he said. "The DPL did not go very well for me. It didn't go according to my own expectations. But if you look at the NCL, BCL one-day and BCL four-day competitions, overall, I wouldn't say that I'm out of form. So I am trying to make my innings bigger."

The 23-year-old also remains hopeful of earning another opportunity with Bangladesh but said the decision rests with the selectors. "I try to be ready. I try to improve myself more. But that call is not in my hands. The selectors can say that better," he said.

Akbar, primarily a wicketkeeper-batter, has also occasionally bowled in domestic cricket and has five wickets to his name. He bowled one over in the match against Dhaka. Asked about his unconventional bowling action, Akbar laughed off the question, saying it was simply a way to have some fun after the match had effectively moved beyond the possibility of a result. "When we realised there was no chance of a result in the last 30-40 minutes, sometimes you need to have some fun. So it was all for fun."

end/wsp/rh