Playing at the ICC Under-19 World Cup final needs nerves of steel and what the Bangladesh captain Akbor Ali showed is far beyond the capacity of any human being.
He kept the death of his beloved sister in the back of his head and calmly played the matches and finally, victory came from his bat.
On the second match in the group stage, Bangladesh pulverized Scotland and after two back to back wins, Bangladesh was in the finals.
But on Jan 22, Akbor lost his sister. The death was concealed from Akbor since on Jan 24 he had a crucial match against Pakistan.
His sister died while giving birth to twins. The entire team was devastated.
But Akbor turned his grief into strength and concentrated on the matches.
He played a dramatic innings in a final against India, taking the team to new heights.
Another player, Mrittunjoy, is impressed by his captain’s determination and ability to command and says “It’s fabulous how he inspired the entire team; we salute him because with such a tragedy in his family, he kept the team spirit high.”
Trainer of the youth team, Mujadded Sani, said “The news of the death came to us but at the request of his family we did not tell him; Akbor cried but also told everyone to focus on the match; he is really from a different planet.”