Khaled Mahmud Sujon, former Bangladeshi cricketer and a former Test and One Day International captain is celebrating his 51st birthday today. He played international cricket for Bangladesh as a medium-pace bowler and middle-order batsman from 1998 to 2006, serving as team captain from 2003 to 2004 and laying the foundation for the current world-beating Bangladesh side.
Even though Khaled Mahmud, Bangladesh’s third Test captain, did not have a better record than his predecessors, history would have remembered him very differently if Pakistan had won the 2003 Multan Test by a larger margin. Mahmud, a hardworking batter with little natural talent, a kind bowler who could catch the batsman off guard, and a captain who always sought to lead by example, were all characterized by that particular game.
Mahmud didn’t get many runs in that game that would change his career, but he did take seven of his 13 Test wickets there, including four in the first innings, and he bowled his body into the ground in the second innings’ closing moments. Had the skipper or perhaps the squad itself played in more Test matches and first-class games, Bangladesh might have won the match.
Sujon came from a home where both older brothers played club cricket, and was well-known for his excellent tennis skills in the Siddeshwari neighborhood of Dhaka. Many players who have played with Mahmud over the years have stories to tell about how terrifying he was on the pitch. He was sarcastic and never backed down from a battle; he frequently used sledging to annoy batsmen.
Mahmud enjoyed a career with several pleasant memories notwithstanding the Multan game. He was a late starter for Bangladesh despite being a domestic force in the 1990s and older than many of the seniors at the time. On a chilly morning in 1998, he made his ODI debut against India with a 47, but he had to wait three more years before making his long-awaited Test debut.
In the 1999 World Cup group stage victory over Pakistan, considered as one of the biggest upsets in cricket history, he was named Man-of-the-Match. Inzamam ul Haque and Company in Northampton were stung by his military-medium pitch, but it was always his work with the bat that kept him on the squad.
He took over for Khaled Mashud two years after his Test debut and stabilized the team as the well-known Dav Whatmore was appointed coach. Whatmore and the Australian did not always agree, but to his credit, he never publicly expressed his opinions, even though Mahmud was banned from Test cricket starting in November 2003. Mahmud continued to play ODIs under Habibul Bashar before apologetically quitting the game against Sri Lanka in 2006 and the series.
Khaled now serves as the assistant coach of the Bangladesh national cricket team. He has had his own ride but he carries it with pride. Here’s wishing the veteran a very Happy Birthday Khaled Mahmud.
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