Shafiul Islam

Born in Bogra, Shafiul Islam forced his way into the domestic scene with a superb debut where he took 5 wickets in the Rajshahi division. He maintained an average in the mid twenties in his first two seasons in the Rajshahi division and that caught the selectors' attention.

He got his first international call up in January 2010 for Bangladesh's tri-series with India and Sri Lanka. He opened the bowling with Rubel Hossain on his debut against the Lankans but did not make such an impact going for 39 runs in 5 overs. His first international wicket was that of former Sri Lankan skipper, Kumar Sangakkara. He was picked up for Bangladesh’s Test series against India later that month. He only picked up one wicket in his first Test, getting the wicket of Gautam Gambhir in the second essay.

In the 2011 World Cup, Islam enjoyed his most successful moment, taking Bangladesh to what seemed like an unlikely win against England. Islam shared a superb 58 run stand for the ninth wicket to take Bangladesh to a win. After the match, Bangladesh fans chanted 'Shafiul is the real hero'. After the match, Shafiul and Mahmudullah were given 1 million Bangladeshi taka for their match-winning partnership.

Imrul Kayes was named the Man of the Match for the game, but admitted that Shafiul Islam was the real hero of the game.

Shafiul injured his foot before the series against West Indies in November 2011 and since then has found it difficult to get back into the Test team. However, he has been playing the shorter formats and has not been impressive. He was part of the team that played the 2014 Asia Cup, but only played one game against Pakistan and was very expensive. After one poor outing he was overlooked for the 2014 World T20.

He made an international comeback after more than 20 months against Afghanistan in October 2016 and was picked for the home series against England. Playing for Khulna Titans in the 2016 edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, Shafiul was having a good tournament taking 18 wickets in 13 matches before injuring his left hamstring. After the 2016-17 season, Shafiul saw himself being left out of the national squads but consistency in domestic cricket means that he is always in the selectors' radar. On cue, he made his international comeback in white-ball cricket in 2019 and he will hope that this comeback ends up to be a fruitful one.

By Abhinand Raghavendran