Aftab Ahmed

Aftab Ahmed is another former Bangladeshi cricketer who saw early success and then faded away at a booming speed. A 19-year-old Ahmed was awarded his debut cap in 2004 after a successful Youth World Cup. He was an attacking middle-order batsman as well as a handy medium-pacer whose gameplay suited the ODI format the most. 

Ahmed grabbed all the eyeballs in Bangladesh when he bashed a knock of 79 runs against South Africa in the 2002 U-19 World Cup. He then went to domestic circles, before getting selected to face England in the longest format. The following month, he made his ODI cap against New Zealand Down Under. 

The stroke player didn’t have much success in his initial days as he could score only one 50+ score in the first 31 innings but loved playing against India. He scored his maiden half-century against India in a winning cause and also scored a fluent 43 against the neighbours. 

However, the Chittagong-born played some of his brilliant knocks in the 50-over format. Ahmed’s attacking 81* against Zimbabwe, 59 against Kenya, and his best score of 92 against Zimbabwe, tells the story for Ahmed. Apart from that, his only fifer was also registered in an ODI against Zimbabwe. 

Apart from playing 16 Tests and 85 ODIs, the attacker also played 11 T20s. The shortest format came at the latter end of his career but he made a lot from it. He played the inaugural T20 World Cup where his unbeaten 62 stunned West Indies. 

In 2008, he risked his career by signing up for the Indian Cricket League that led to a 10-year ban for the Bangladeshi. A year later, he quit the league to make himself available for the selection. Ahmed was selected for the tri-series against England and New Zealand and later was part of the squad for the 2010 World T20, which was also his international outing. 

(As of May 2021)