Mahmudullah’s 33th birthday today
Today is the 33th birthday of Bangladesh cricket superstar Mohammad Mahmudullah Riyad.
He has played First-class and List A cricket for Dhaka Division and has represented Bangladesh in all forms of the game.
An all-rounder, he is a lower or middle-order batsman as well as an off spin bowler. He is the first Bangladeshi to score a World Cup hundred.
Born in Mymensingh, Mahmudullah made his first-class debut for Bangladesh A at the age of 19 and posted scores of 55 and 42 against Zimbabwe A.
He made his debut in international cricket in an ODI against Sri Lanka in July 2007 and made an instant impact picking up 2 wickets and scored 36 runs but the effort went in vain as Bangladesh came up short.
The performance was enough to convince the selectors to pick him for the tour to Kenya and the T20 World Cup later that year. He was briefly dropped from the side in 2008 but worked his way back with phenomenal domestic performances to earn a recall.
Mahmudullah made his Test debut on 9 July 2009 against the West Indies and made a dream start to his career in whites. He failed with the bat, but produced the best bowling figures for a Bangladeshi on debut.
He took 8 wickets in the match, including a 5-wicket haul in the second innings to help Bangladesh seal their first ever win abroad. The match figures remain his best till date.
Batting at number 7, Mahmudullah scored lots of runs in ODIs and he was picked for the 2011 World Cup, where he shared a vital partnership with Shafiul Islam to take Bangladesh to victory against England.
After the World Cup, Mahmudullah was named as Bangladesh's vice-captain, taking over from Tamim Iqbal. When West Indies toured in October, Mahmudullah missed all the matches with a viral fever.
He recovered in time to rejoin the squad to face Pakistan in three ODIs in November, where he scored 56 runs and bowled in just one match, taking three wickets from seven deliveries.
By far, Mahmudullah was the best Bangladesh batsman in the 2015 World Cup. His century knocked England out of the tournament and he backed it up with another ton, an unbeaten 128 against the co-hosts New Zealand, albeit in a losing cause.
Overall, he scored 365 in seven innings which helped his team secure a berth in the quarters, where they were eventually beaten by India.
That tournament was a turning point for Mahmudullah as he hasn't looked back ever since. He has played quite a few impact knocks after that, mostly in the lower middle order where he takes charge of finishing the innings for Bangladesh. His presence lends extra stability to the batting.
