Habibul Bashar

Habibul Bashar Biography

Often regarded as the greatest Bangladeshi Test batsmen of all times, Qazi Habibul Bashar is a right-hand batsman and right arm off spin bowler.

The 45-year-old Bangladeshi cricketer was born on 17 August 1972 in Nagorkanda, Kushtia district, in Bangladesh. Bashar was the captain of the Bangladesh national team.

Background

In 1989, Bashar was the part of under-19 Bangladesh cricket team, who represented his country of the Asia Cup. During his domestic cricket days, Bashar represented Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

Debut

Bashar was the part of the Bangladesh national team in 1995, where he made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup.

Bashar failed to make it to the national team for 1997 ICC Trophy where Bangladeshis ended up as champions and also did not make it to the 1999 World Cup. However, Bashar made his Test debut in 2000 against India, in the nation’s first ever Test match.

Rise to Glory

In 2004, in a Test match, Bashar made 113 runs against West Indies cricket team. From the year 2004 to 2007 he was the captain of the Bangladesh cricket team and gathered some recognition during that period of time.

In 2005, Bangladesh received their first Test series win against Zimbabwe and also won their first One Day International series under captaincy.

Bashar was also Bangladesh captain when they beat India in the 2007 World Cup to knock their more-fancied neighbors out of the competition.

Low Points

After Bashar’s debut in international cricket, he did not make it to the national team for important tournaments that was quite disappointing for him. His performance in 2007 World Cup was quite disappointing as his average of only 13.12 and the highest score of 32 and he ultimately resigned as the captain of the team.

Captaincy

Under Bashar’s captaincy, he improved the rankings of Bangladesh’s cricket on a global level. Bangladesh was above Zimbabwe in the LG ICC ODI rankings.

Under his captaincy, Bangladeshis defeated Australia, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka in limited overs matches. He also served as a captain to the Dhaka Warriors in ICL.

Retirement

Bashar retired from professional cricket after playing the 2009/10 season.

He is the national Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in Bangladesh.

Also, he is of the chief selectors of BCB, along with Akram Khan and Minhajul Abedin.