Raquibul Hasan

Raqibul Hasan (born 15 January 1953 in Dhaka) is a former Bangladeshi cricketer who played in two ODIs in 1986. He is widely regarded as one of the best Bangladeshi batsman of his era.

An opening batsman, Raqibul Hasan made his first-class debut in 1968–69 at the age of 16, and was soon selected to represent Pakistan's U19 team against the English Schoolboys. He was twelfth man in a Test match against New Zealand at Dhaka in 1969–70. Barely sixteen at the time, he seemed sure to have a lengthy Test career ahead of him.

However, on 26 February 1971 a match started at Dhaka in the Bangabandhu Stadium. It was a four-day match against the Commonwealth side. The Pakistan team was playing and he was picked to play for them. At 18 years old he became the first and only Bengali to play for a full-strength Pakistan team. The match couldn't be finished as on the last day demonstrations erupted all over the city and the stadium was invaded. Within a month of his debut, events in his homeland of East Pakistan took a shocking turn, and he was forced to flee for his life.

It would be nine long months before Bangladesh won its independence, at the cost of millions of lives. In Raqibul's family there were six casualties. On top of that, he lost his best friend, Haleem Chaudhri, who was his opening partner for East Pakistan and his room-mate on tour. And he lost his cricketing godfather, Mushtaq, the man who spotted him as a boy and gave him his first chance at club level.

After returning to Bangladesh, Raqibul became a key figure in building Bangladesh cricket. He led the side in their return to the international arena. In December 1976, when the visiting MCC started their tour with a two-day match at Rajshahi against North Zone, he was named captain and top scored with 73 in the second innings. He bettered that, scoring 74 for South Zone at Jessore. But his proudest moment of the season came at Dhaka as he was part of the Bangladesh team (led by Shamim Kabir) that played in the three-day unofficial Test match against MCC in January 1977. This historic match marked the resumption of international cricket in Dhaka.