শাহাদাত হোসেন

Shahadat Hossain is the grunting wonder of the Bangladeshi bowling line-up. A tall, muscular bowler blessed with a good attitude, Shahadat Hossain has sparkled in a team that is struggling to produce fast bowlers. A seam bowler who lacks pace, Shahadat's inconsistency has led to him being in and out of the national team.

Shahadat rose up to the ranks after putting in some hard work during his stint with the Bangladesh Institute of Sports. This earned him a spot in the U-19 team for the World Cup where he impressed some of the observers with his pace. However, he made a stormy debut against England in 2004 at Lords. He was thrashed out of the attack and conceded an economy rate of 8.41 as Bangladesh were comprehensively beaten inside three days at the headquarters of cricket.

Following that experience, Shahadat had a tough road ahead and continued to be expensive in ODIs. However, he had a memorable time in the series against Zimbabwe in 2006. In the third ODI at Harare, he became the only Bangladesh bowler to take a hat-trick in ODIs. He sent back Mufambisi, Chigumbura and Utseya as he enjoyed his time in the sun. His next best performance came against Australia at Darwin. He snapped up White and Johnson in quick succession but missed his hat-trick. However, he sent back Hussey and had picked up three wickets in four balls to redeem himself after an expensive start.

It was in Test matches where he sparkled the most. In the series against South Africa in 2008, he picked up 6/27 in an astonishing spell which left the South Africans clueless. After the Lords mauling of 2004, Shahadat came back wiser and became the first Bangladeshi player to have his name etched on the Lords' honours board when he picked up 5/98 in 2010.

Shahadat has acquired a vicious reputation during his time with Bangladesh. He once hit Ponting on the helmet when he missed the hook shot at Fatullah during the 2006 Test and he made Rahul Dravid retire hurt during the Mirpur Test in 2010, by fracturing his jaw with a bouncer. If he can overcome his inconsistency, Shahadat Hossain can be the answer to Bangladesh's fast bowling woes in the absence of Mashrafe Mortaza.

Shahadat was bought by Khulna Royal Bengals in the Bangladesh Premier League for $30,000. He was picked for the Asia Cup held in Bangladesh in 2012 and played his first ODI since February 2010. He conceded the most runs by any bowler in the tournament and averaged 62.00 for his four wickets. BCB did not renew his central contract in April 2012.

By Siddharth VishwanathanAs of April 2014