Right-arm fast bowler Rubel Hossain wanted to quit cricket and concentrate on his studies as he was not getting the right kind of break he would have liked at the start of his career with the third division team Hillol Sporting Club in 2005. At that point in time GrameenPhone launched its first pacer hunt programme where he could not make his mark that prompted him to give up cricket. But at the insistence of his mother Robezan Bibi he tried his luck in the next year and grabbed the spotlight with his extraordinary pace, topping the speed gun. He joined the premier league side Victoria Sporting Club in 2007 and made his cricketing debut in the national league the same year, playing for Chittagong Division. Apart from cricket, he loves to ride bikes as it allows him to experience speed. Rubel was included in the Bangladesh’s Under-19 squad for the World Cup in 2008 and received a call-up to the Bangladesh one-day squad for the home series against Sri Lanka, in which he made an immediate impact picking up four wickets for 33 runs in the first match, and for the Zimbabwe tour the following year. He made his Test debut on the West Indies tour in 2009 and picked up three wickets in the first innings of the first Test. ‘I want to make a significant contribution so that it helps our team to the maximum,’ said Rubel. –– New Age
