OTD | Former Bangladesh All-rounder Khaled Mahmud was born in 1971

On this day in 1971, Khaled Mahmud was born in 1971. The Bangladeshi cricketer is regarded as one of the most influential players in the history of the Sports of the Asian nation. He was born the same year in which Bangladesh was born. It almost signified the birth of a new era for the South Asian country. Khaled led Bangladesh in both Tests and ODIs for a brief period in the 2000s.

He was a middle-order batter and a medium-pace bowler. Mahmud played for the Asian team from 1998 to 2006. He led them in the period 2003-2004. Born in Dhaka, Khaled had hard yards towards making his debut for Bangladesh’s team. He was more of a bowling All-rounder who could bat better than a bit. Some of his best performances at the highest level came against Pakistan.

Bangladesh entered their maiden ODI World Cup in 1999. In the same year, they produced a massive upset by beating Pakistan, the eventual runner-up. Mahmud played a key role in his team’s win. He played well as an All-rounder, contributed both as a batter and as a bowler, and starred in Bangladesh’s upset. Against a great bowling lineup, Khaled was handy as a lower-middle-order batter.

The right-handed batter added a crucial 27 runs from his blade. Defending a paltry total, the right-arm pacer was all over the batters of Pakistan. He claimed 3/31 in his spell of 10 overs. The medium pacer was the Player of the Match in his team’s maiden win in the World Cup. His other memorable performance was in the Multan Test 2003/04. In the third Test of the tour of Pakistan, the medium pacer claimed a total of 7 wickets.

Mahmud picked 4/37 in the first innings and followed it up with 3/68 in the second innings. The talented player retired from the highest level in 2006. Post-retirement, Khaled worked as the Operations manager at the NCA. He was also the assistant coach of Bangladesh in 2009. Khaled was one of the 25 directors on the board in 2013. Mahmud also worked as the manager, technical director, team director, and selector in different periods.

Also read: Legendary Pakistan cricketer Zaheer Abbas was born in 1947