Anamul Haque

Anamul Haque is a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman, known for playing eye-catching shots. Anamul is from Kushtia and made his First-Class debut for Dhaka division in 2008-09. In 2009, he toured England with the Under-19 squad. He also got a Man of the Match award in the youth Test against England in Chittagong in 2009-10, in which he scored a fifty and effected five dismissals behind the stumps. Later, he captained the Bangladesh team in the Under-19 World Cup in Australia and emerged as the highest run-scorer for his country. He made two hundreds and even won a Man of the Match award.

Haque made his ODI debut for Bangladesh against West Indies in the first ODI of the series in 2012 and in only his second ODI, he slammed a gritty century. He had a quiet series against Sri Lanka at home in February 2014, where he managed only a fifty. In the 2014 Asia Cup, he scored a century against Pakistan and a fifty against India. Later that year, he had a terrific series against Zimbabwe in Nov-Dec 2014. He was the second highest run-getter in the series, amassing 200 runs in five games, which included two fifties. He was picked for the ICC World Cup in 2015 but his campaign came to a premature end when he suffered a grade 3 joint strain condition in the game against Scotland at Nelson. He was advised 6 weeks of rest.

Anamul vanished from the national selectors' radar. His recovery wasn't smooth, he went back to the domestic circuit and began working his way in a aim to make a comeback to the Bangladesh team.

In 2016, the BCB omitted Anamul from the list of contracted players for 2017/18 season. The wicket-keeper batsman was undeterred by the setback as he continued to churn out runs in the Dhaka Division League. He was instrumental in his club - Khula's successful stay at the top. One of the dominant run-scorers, the Board president recommended Anamul Haque's name to the selectors for the opening spot in the Test squad for the series against South Africa in 2017, however he was ignored. One's loss is another's gain as they say; Chittagong Vikings roped him in the BPL draft.

By Sriram AS