Former Bangladesh spinner Musharraf Hossain, fondly known as Rubel, passed away on Wednesday (April 20) at the age of 40. The left-arm spinner amassed over 550 wickets across all formats in a career spanning two decades.
“The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) mourns the passing of former Bangladesh National Team player Musharraf Hossain Rubel. The left-arm spinner amassed over 550 wickets across all formats in a career spanning two decades. The BCB extends profound sympathies and condolences,” tweeted Bangladesh Cricket.
Hossain made his first-class debut during the 2001-02 season as a student for Dhaka University. He became a prominent part of domestic cricket in Bangladesh and was a regular in the lists of the top-five wicket-takers in competitions like the National Cricket League and Dhaka Premier League.
The spinner was on a list of seven Bangladeshi cricketers who have scored 3,000 runs and scalped 300 wickets in first-class cricket for Bangladesh. Winning the Player-of-the-Match award in the 2013 Bangladesh Premier League final was a major highlight for the player, becoming the first of three Bangladesh players to attain the accomplishment in a BPL final, the other two being Alok Kapali in 2015 and Tamim Iqbal in 2019.
Hossain has also represented Bangladesh in International Cricket and had the longest gap between international appearances. After his debut in 2008, he earned his next call-up during an ODI series against Afghanistan in 2016. He also played an ODI versus England, which marked his final international appearance.
According to ESPNCricinfo, Hossain was suffering from brain cancer after being diagnosed in March 2019. After his recovery, the tumour relapsed again in November 2020. Also known as ‘Rubel’, the spinner had been in the hospital over the last couple of weeks but went home after another chemotherapy bout recently.
He is survived by his wife and one child.
