Anisur Rahman - Bangladeshi Left Arm Seamers

Bangladeshi Left Arm Seamers

An interesting fact about the Bangladesh team is that, there is always a left arm seam bowler in the national squad. Dipu Roy played in the historical 3-day match against the MCC in Dhaka in 1976-77, that marked the entrance of Bangladesh in international cricket arena. In fact he took the first wicket for the local side. Dipu also played in Bangladesh's first ICC Trophy match against Fiji in 1979, sharing the new ball with Mashud. Gholam Nousher Prince played in Bangladesh's first official ODI in 1986, and Bikash Ranjan Das played in Bangladesh's first official Test match. Again, Morshed Ali Khan was part of Bangladesh's first ODI win, against Kenya in 1998. And, finally, a year later, Manjural Islam played in the WC win against Scotland at Edinburgh. Prince was the main Bangladeshi pace bowler in the '80s. despite being hampered by injuries, he played in all 7 ODIs for the national side during the period 1986-90. In the 1990, International Cricket Council trophy, he shared the new ball with another left armer Dulu. The two did an admirable job taking a total of 22 wickets. Apart from these two, the other notable left arm pace bowlers were Abul Khair Mohon and Morshed Alam.

Anisur Rahman emerged as the top left arm seamer in 1994, spearheading the Bangladesh attack during the 2nd SAARC cricket tournament in Dhaka. He had a short international career, as did Morshed Ali Khan, but Manjural Islam enjoyed a longer stint. He has taken 28 wickets in 17 tests. His best bowling was in his debut match, 6/81 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo. He also bowled well in 1999 WC. Now, he is a part of the Dhaka warriors side in ICL. In recent times, Syed Rasel has emerged as a regular member of the ODI squad.

An interesting case is that of Mohammad Rafique. He emerged in the domestic circuit in the late 80's as a promising left arm seam bowler. But encouraged by his teammate, the Pakistani all-rounder Wasim Haider he started bowling left arm spin. And he finished his test career (as a left arm slow bowler) with 100 wickets.