Raqibul Hasan was one of the more inexperienced players in the Bangladesh squad for the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. One of his impressive qualities as a batsman is his ability to build an innings and thus protect his wicket. Hasan, who likes to be known as Nirala, broke into the U-19 team in the tri-nations series featuring England and Sri Lanka. He was very impressive in that tournament, scoring 249 runs, including an innings of 121 against Sri Lanka in only his third match. He made his ODI debut in the home series against South Africa in March 2008 and got a call-up to the Test squad later that year on Bangladesh's return tour. His positive 65 against West Indies in Grenada helped Bangladesh win their first Test series abroad. But things went downhill for Raqibul after the tour of New Zealand, when he was dropped for the home ODIs against England as well as the 30-man probables for the World Twenty20. He was selected for Bangladesh's home series against England in March 2010 but shocked his team-mates by announcing his retirement on the eve of the first Test. He withdrew his retirement a week later and the board included him for the ODIs against England.
Chris Oliver and Cricinfo Staff