Habibul Bashar facts for kids

Qazi Habibul Bashar (born August 17, 1972) is a famous Bangladeshi cricket player. He used to be the captain of the Bangladesh cricket team. Many people think he was one of Bangladesh's most successful captains.

Under his leadership, Bangladesh achieved many important things. For example, Bangladesh won its first-ever Test match in 2005. This historic win was against Zimbabwe. Habibul Bashar also led his team to beat strong teams like Australia, India, South Africa, and Sri Lanka in shorter cricket games.

Today, Habibul Bashar is one of the main selectors for the BCB. He works alongside Abdur Razzak and Minhajul Abedin.

Early Cricket Career

Habibul Bashar started playing cricket at a young age. In 1989, he played for the Bangladesh Under-19 team. This was during the U-19 Asia Cup.

Throughout the 1990s, he played for a team called Biman Bangladesh Airlines. His first international one-day game was in 1995. This match was against Sri Lanka at the Asia Cup.

He did not play in the 1997 ICC Trophy, which Bangladesh won. He also missed the 1999 World Cup. After the World Cup, he rejoined the team. A coach named Eddie Barlow helped him get more chances to play.

At first, Habibul Bashar was not chosen for Bangladesh's first-ever Test match. But he had been playing very well. The media and fans spoke up, and he was finally added to the team. In that historic match, Habibul Bashar scored the first fifty runs for Bangladesh in Test cricket. This showed everyone how talented he was.

Captaincy and Achievements

Minhajul Abedin and Habibul Bashar on field as selectors of BCB

Habibul Bashar was one of Bangladesh's top batsmen. He became the captain of Bangladesh in January 2004. He led the team until June 2007. During this time, the team had many great successes.

In January 2005, Zimbabwe visited Bangladesh. Under Habibul Bashar's captaincy, Bangladesh made history. They won their first Test match ever. They also won their first Test series and their first One Day International series.

In June 2005, Bangladesh achieved another big win. They beat the world champions Australia in a One Day International game. This exciting match took place in Cardiff.

In April 2006, Bangladesh almost beat Australia in a Test match. They had a big lead after the first part of the game. Even though they lost by a small margin, it showed how much they had improved.

Bangladesh lost an ODI series to Zimbabwe in August 2006. But they beat Zimbabwe in a qualifying match for the Champions Trophy. Because of these efforts, Bangladesh moved up in the international cricket rankings. This showed that the team was getting better with every game.

Later Career and Retirement

Habibul Bashar had a tough time as a batsman during the 2007 Cricket World Cup. His scores were not as high as usual. However, the Bangladesh team still played quite well in the tournament.

After Bangladesh lost a Test series to India, Habibul Bashar stepped down as the captain for One Day International matches. He still wanted to play for the team. On June 2, 2007, he was also replaced as Test captain. Mohammad Ashraful took over both captain roles.

On September 14, Habibul Bashar announced he was retiring from international cricket. He then became the captain of the Dhaka Warriors team in a league called ICL. By the end of 2009, he left ICL and returned to mainstream Bangladesh cricket. He officially retired from all professional cricket after the 2009/10 season.

Even after retiring, Habibul Bashar continued to play local weekend cricket. He also became a national Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in Bangladesh. In January 2022, Habibul Bashar joined the Asia Lions team. He played alongside Mohammad Rafique in the Legends League Cricket.

Career Highlights

This graph shows Habibul Bashar's scores in Test matches. The red bars are runs he scored in each game. The blue line shows his average score over his last ten games.

Test Match Milestones

• Test Debut: His first Test match was against India in Dhaka in 2000.
• Highest Score: He scored his highest Test runs, 113, against West Indies in 2004.
• Test Centuries: He scored three centuries (100 runs or more) in Test matches:

* 108 runs against Zimbabwe in Chattogram in 2001. * 108 runs against Pakistan in Karachi in 2003. * 113 runs against West Indies in Gros Islet in 2004.

• Best Year: In 2003, he had a great year. He scored 801 runs, including one century and seven half-centuries. His average score was 44.50.

One Day International (ODI) Milestones

• ODI Debut: His first ODI match was against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 1995.
• Highest Score: He scored his highest ODI runs, 78, against Zimbabwe in 2007.