Sport - Cricket

Alok Kapali emerging as an all-rounder

Karachi: The Bangladesh batting line-up, which often lives on hope and skipper Mohammad Ashraful’s runs, may well get a breather through the emergence of Alok Kapali as a batting all-rounder. “Kapali along with Raqibul Hassan and Nazimuddin are a young bunch that makes me believe that we can score runs even on days when Ashraful fails,” Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said.

Kapali’s 115 which startled India briefly on Saturday, was a coming-of-age knock and how he builds it from here will determine his career-graph. “That innings showed his quality,” Dhoni said.

The innings gave a lifeline for Kapali after he found a last-minute seat on the flight to Pakistan following an injury to Aftab Ahmed.

“Pakistan is a place where I have performed well with the bat and have also taken a hat-trick in 2003 with my leg-spin. It was the right place to start again,” said Kapali.

After a play-and-pause start to a nascent career, Kapali believes that he found his groove in 2007. “I identified the weaknesses in my batting and made technical changes. Earlier I went across, now I largely play straight,” Kapali said. “I was out of the national set-up for two years and need to improve my fitness. There is a lot of catching up to do,” added Kapali. — Principal Correspondent

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu