DHAKA (Web Desk) - Bangladesh fast bowler Rubel Hossain has announced his retirement from international cricket. The 36-year-old Rubel wrote to his 3.5 million Facebook followers on Wednesday that he is ending a career of 159 Bangladesh caps.
Rubel played the last of his international matches in April 2021, a T20I against New Zealand in Auckland. In the years since, injuries have increasingly limited his participation in domestic cricket too.
Bangladesh fans will remember Rubel for his match-winning display haul against England in a World Cup match in Adelaide in 2015. He had nipped out Ian Bell and England captain Eoin Morgan in the space of four balls, before removing Stuart Broad and James Anderson to finish with 4 for 53.
"I am pacer Rubel Hossain. I have played 27 Tests, 104 ODIs and 28 T20Is for Bangladesh," he wrote. "The national team is my passion. But at some point, I had to leave international cricket. With that in mind, I said goodbye to international cricket. However, I intend to continue playing domestic cricket. Thank you to my family, friends, media personnel and fans. I believe that you will continue to support me for the rest of my life."
Rubel burst onto the scene in 2009 when Champaka Ramanayake, who was then Bangladesh's fast-bowling coach, discovered him in a countrywide pacer hunt. Rubel had a slingy bowling action, and could clock 140kph on occasion.
Rubel became the first Bangladesh bowler to take four wickets on ODI debut, his 4 for 33 helping beat Sri Lanka in Mirpur in 2009. It was followed by a late blowout against the same opponents in the final of that tri-series two days later, when Muthiah Muralidaran carted him around at a pivotal moment in a low-scoring thriller.
Rubel took a five-wicket haul in his fifth Test, against New Zealand in Hamilton in 2010, but found the longest format difficult, finishing with 36 wickets in 27 Tests at an average of 76.77, the highest of all bowlers to have bowled at least 4000 deliveries.
It was the ODI format in which Rubel thrived, picking up 129 wickets at an average of 34.31. He is Bangladesh's fifth-highest wicket-taker in the format at the time of his retirement, although Mehidy Hasan Miraz (126) is closing in quickly. Rubel picked up seven four-wicket hauls and a five-for, a 6 for 26 against New Zealand that included a hat-trick, in 2013. Interestingly, Rubel had taken a hat-trick in a domestic one-day match the week before, though he hadn't realised it when it happened.