Shadman Islam

Like every other kid from Bangladesh, Shadman Islam too had a dream to play cricket for his country and his dream was accomplished, when a 23-year-old Dhaka-based cricketer donned the Bangladesh whites against the West Indies, in November 2018. Islam is a left-handed opening batsman who garnered tons after tons in domestic cricket to break into the national side. The southpaw also represented Bangladesh at the Under-19 level and had a stellar Junior World Cup in 2014, finishing as the tournament's top run-getter with 406 runs at 101.50 with a century and two fifties.

Following the U-19 marquee tournament, the staggering youngster was picked by Dhaka Metropolis to make his first-class debut in the National Cricket League. Later that season, he made his List-A and T20 debut as well. Since his debut, Islam has been a consistent run-getter in domestic cricket and trailed more attention after scoring heavy runs for Bangladesh A side. The youngster’s performances weren’t ignorable, he received his maiden call-up for the series against the West Indies. He started his international career with a magnificent knock of 76 runs. The elegant left-hander then toured to New Zealand and India to have mediocre outings, before he got dropped from the team. 

The Dhaka-born remained a regular run-making machine in the domestic circles, which helped him to make a comeback in the home series against the West Indies in 2021. In his comeback game, the southpaw scored a 59 and 5, but he couldn’t convert it into a three-figure score. The national selectors have picked Islam in the Test squad for the Zimbabwean tour, later in July. 

Shadman has got quite a couple of starts in his international career but he has to capitalize on those opportunities. The left-handed batter surely has the potential to be a long-serving red-ball opener for Bangladesh but he has to score big runs for becoming a regular in the team.

(As of July 2021)