Veteran Bangladesh cricketer Rajin Saleh set to hang his boots

Bangladesh cricketer Rajin Saleh has announced retirement from first-class cricket. The last round of the National Cricket League is expected to be the swansong of his long career. The 34-year-old last featured for Bangladesh in a Test match against New Zealand back in 2008. Rajin was dismissed for a duck in his last ever inning in international cricket, an unfortunate record to share with Sir Don Bradman.

Having played 24 Tests and 43 ODIs, the right-handed batsman has been quite a prominent name in their first-class circuit. He has an aggregate of 8327 runs with 18 centuries and 42 fifties to his name. While he never registered a Test century, Rajin scored a phenomenal 89 in what was Bangladesh’s maiden Test win. He also has an ODI century which came against Kenya.

We need to produce more batsmen from the Sylhet region

He was the captain of Bangladesh in the 2004 Champions Trophy after Habibul Bashar was ruled out due to injury. At the stage where he is in his career, Rajin thinks it is the right time for him to hang his boots. He also declared his future aspirations as a coach and wants to help the batting talent emerge in the Sylhet region.

“I think this is the right time. I want to give back to cricket in the Sylhet region. I want to produce more batsmen. A second generation of batsmen hasn’t developed after myself, Alok Kapali and Imtiaz Hossain. We have a number of good pace bowlers like Abu Jayed and Khaled Ahmed, but we need to produce more batsmen for Bangladesh team,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Rajin Saleh has been working on his cricket academy in Sylhet for a considerable period now. Regarded as a fine talent in his early days, the lad failed to meet the expectations. However, at the same time, his efforts to help Bangladesh cricket at the grassroots level deserves appreciation.

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