FORMER B’DESH CRICKETER MUSHARRAF RUBEL DIES AT 40, CONDOLENCES POUR IN

Former Bangladesh spinner Musharraf Hossain Rubel has died at the age of 40.

“The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) mourns the passing of former Bangladesh National Team player Musharraf Hossain Rubel. The left-arm spinner amassed over 550 wickets across all formats in a career spanning two decades. The BCB extends profound sympathies and condolences,” tweeted Bangladesh Cricket. As per ESPNCricinfo, Hossain was suffering from brain cancer, diagnosed in March 2019. After his recovery, the tumor relapsed again in November 2020. Also known as ‘Rubel’, the spinner had been in hospital over the last couple of weeks but went home after another chemotherapy bout recently.

Former Bangladesh spinner Musharraf Hossain Rubel.

Hossain made his first-class debut in 2001-02 season as a Dhaka University student. He became a prominent part of domestic cricket and a regular in the lists of top-five wicket-takers in competitions like the National Cricket League and Dhaka Premier League.

The spinner was in the company of seven cricketers to have scored 3,000 runs and scalped 300 wickets in first-class cricket in Bangladesh. Winning the Player-of-the-match award in 2013 Bangladesh Premier League final was a highlight for the player, becoming the first of three Bangladesh players to attain the accomplishment in a BPL final, with the other two being Alok Kapali (2015) and Tamim Iqbal (2019).

He also represented Bangladesh in International Cricket and had the longest gap between international appearances. After his debut in 2008, he earned his next call-up during an ODI series against Afghanistan in 2016. He is also played an ODI versus England, which marked his final international appearance.