Al Sahariar

Among the many young Bangladesh batsmen in the 1990s, Al Shahriar stood out with his timing on the on-side. He didn't have much of an international career, but did reasonably well in domestic cricket. Shahriar scored Bangladesh's first first-class century, 102 against New Zealand during the team's tour to the country in 1997-98, two years before Bangladesh began playing domestic first-class cricket.

As Bangladesh slowly grew as a cricket team and became a regular participant in international tournaments, Shahriar's technical problems became apparent, with his biggest drawback being an inadequate technique against pace bowling. A bottom-handed batsman, Shahriar struggled to live up to his reputation as one of Bangladesh's biggest talents in the 1990s, and was an antecedent of the latter-day unfulfilled talent, Mohammad Ashraful.

Shahriar dominated domestic cricket where he thrived for both Abahani and Mohammedan Sporting Club. An early cricket graduate of the famed sports institute BKSP, Shahriar was in several age-group sides before being picked in 1993 for a BCB Eleven, when he also used to bowl legspin regularly. He played for several representative teams all over the world, but it took him six years to get an ODI debut. It came in the hurriedly arranged ODI between Bangladesh and Pakistan (on the unused last day of the Asian Test Championships' final) at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in March 1999.

In his third game, Shahriar scored an unbeaten 62 against West Indies, and ultimately in his 29-match ODI career he never surpassed that score. He batted at No.6 in Bangladesh's inaugural Test without making many, before scoring four half-centuries in Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa (all in the second innings). After a disastrous 2003 World Cup campaign and Bangladesh's tour to Australia, he played his last international game in August that year.

After four more domestic seasons, Shahriar settled in New Zealand with his family, where he is a player-coach for Havelock North Club.
Mohammad Isam