Friday 16 March 2007

Bangladesh Mourns Loss Of Manjural Islam Rana

Bangladesh left arm spinner Manjarul Islam Rana died in a road accident near his hometown of Khulna on Friday. Manjarul, 23, died instantly on the Baliakhali bridge in Dumuria Upazila, 18 km from the divisional headquarters Khulna.

His Khulna team mate Sajjadul Hasan Setu was also killed in the same accident. Manjarul returned to Khulna yesterday after the final round tie of the National Cricket League against Dhaka.

Manjural played six tests and 25 one-day internationals for Bangladesh. He made his ODI debut against England at Chittagong in November 2003 and test debut at Harare in February 2004. He last played for Bangladesh on 25 March 2006 in the 4th ODI against Kenya.

Manjural was the only Bangladeshi bowler to claim a wicket in his first international over. In recent years, Manjural turned into a fine all-round player and was the leading performer of the recently concluded National Cricket League. He was considered as a bright prospect for Bangladesh cricket and was highly tipped to be as the replacement of veteran Mohammad Rafiq after his retirement from the one day cricket.

Sajjadul Hasan played 50 first class matches for Khulna and scored 2443 runs.

The Bangladesh national team will wear a black band to mourn the incident in their World Cup match against India tomorrow.

© Khondaker Mirazur Rahman

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