Mohammad Rubel Hossain ( bn, মোহাম্মদ রুবেল হোসেন; born 01 Jan 1990) is a
Bangladeshi
Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay.
Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er. He made his international debut for
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
in January 2009 aged 19. He has the highest bowling average of any pacer who has bowled at least 2,000 deliveries in Test cricket. He is a quick bowler with a slingy action similar to
Lasith Malinga
Separamadu Lasith Malinga ( si, සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලිංග; born 28 August 1983), nicknamed "Slinga Malinga", is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers ...
's. Hossain holds the record of the fastest bowled delivery (149.5kph) by a Bangladeshi cricketer.
Early and domestic career
Hossain's
first-class debut arrived for Chittagong Division in 2007, where he picked up match figures of 1/137 against Khulna Division. After a string of good performances in the
National Cricket League
The National Cricket League is the oldest domestic first-class cricket competition in Bangladesh. It is contested by teams representing seven of the eight regional divisions of Bangladesh (there is no team from Mymensingh Division) as well as a t ...
, he was selected to play for the
Bangladesh Under-19 team, and soon after, the
Bangladesh A team.
The
Bangladesh Cricket Board in 2012 founded the six-team
Bangladesh Premier League
The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...
, a twenty20 tournament to be held in February that year. An auction was held for teams to buy players, and Hossain was bought by the
Sylhet Royals for $70,000. In October 2018, he was named in the squad for the
Dhaka Dynamites
The Dhaka Dominators (Dhakaiya/ bn, ঢাকা ডমিনেটর্স) is a franchise cricket team that plays in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), representing the country's Dhaka City, Dhaka.
The team was originally established in 20 ...
team, following the draft for the
2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League. In November 2019, he was selected to play for the
Chattogram Challengers in the
2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League.
Hossain innovated a technique of delivery named 'Butterfly'.
International career
Hossain was named in the
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
squad for the tri-series with Sri Lanka and
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
and made his debut in the third game of the round-robin stage, a game Bangladesh needed to win to progress to the final. He cleaned up the middle-order and tail-enders with a 4-wicket haul in 5.3 overs. He also played in the tri-series final, where he had a poor end to the game, but retained his place for the three ODI series against Zimbabwe soon after. More good performances led to his name being named in the Test squad to face the West Indies for the first time. He made his debut at
Arnos Vale, and took three wickets in West Indies' 1st innings, and also formed a good 10th wicket partnership with
Shahadat Hossain
Shahadat Hossain (born: 7 August 1986) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He made his Test debut in 2005 during Bangladesh's first tour of England. When he came onto the international scene he was cited by then coach Dav Whatmore as the fastest bowl ...
in Bangladesh's first innings.
Hossain has also featured in two Twenty20 matches, both coming in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. He bowled 149.5 km/h in a warm-up game of
2009 ICC World Twenty20
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was an international Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) that took place in England in June 2009. It was the second ICC World Twenty20 tournament, following the inaugural ...
.
His best ODI figure of 6/26 vs New Zealand at
Mirpur, where he also took a
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
was nominated to be one of the best ODI bowling performance of the year 2013 by ESPNcricinfo.
He consistently bowled around 145 km/h in the
2015 Cricket World Cup
The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by Aust ...
.
In April 2018, Hossain was one of ten cricketers to be awarded a central contract by the
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) ahead of the 2018 season. In April 2019, he was named in
Bangladesh's squad for the
2019 Cricket World Cup
The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...
. In September 2021, he was named as one of two reserve players in Bangladesh's squad for the
2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup
The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventua ...
. On 26 October 2021, he was added to Bangladesh's main squad for the tournament, after
Mohammad Saifuddin
Mohammad Saifuddin ( bn, মোহাম্মদ সাইফুদ্দিন; born 1 November 1996) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. In December 2015, he was named in Bangladesh's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his intern ...
was ruled out due to a back injury.
Controversies
Bangladeshi police arrested Hossain after Bangladeshi actress Naznin Akter Happy filed rape charges. He was in custody for three days, later the court granted him bail to participate for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. On Bangladesh's victory over England, in which Hossain played a starring role, Nazneen withdrew the charges. Because of Rubel's performance against England, Happy's lawyer, Debul Day, ended his participation in the case saying "I no longer wish to fight against Rubel after seeing Bangladesh succeed. Rubel should feel no pressure."
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hossain, Rubel
1990 births
Living people
Bangladesh Test cricketers
Bangladesh One Day International cricketers
Bangladesh Twenty20 International cricketers
Bangladeshi cricketers
Chittagong Division cricketers
Khulna Division cricketers
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
One Day International hat-trick takers
Asian Games medalists in cricket
Cricketers at the 2014 Asian Games
Asian Games bronze medalists for Bangladesh
Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games
Sylhet Sixers cricketers
Gazi Tank cricketers
Prime Bank Cricket Club cricketers
Legends of Rupganj cricketers
Chittagong Vikings cricketers
Bangladesh South Zone cricketers
Bangladesh A cricketers
People from Bagerhat District
Rangpur Rangers cricketers
Dhaka Dynamites cricketers