Qazi Habibul Bashar ( born August 17, 1972) is a former cricketer from Bangladesh and former captain of the Bangladesh cricket team. Led by Dav Whatmore, it has been found that he is the most successful captain who led the Bangladesh team to overcome several milestones. He achieved Bangladesh's first test victory in 2004 against Zimbabwe. Under Bashar's captain, Bangladesh has beaten Australia, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka in limited overs games. Bashar is currently one of BCB's main selectors alongside Abdur Razzak and Minhajul Abedin.

Career Story

In 1989 Bashar played for the U-19 national team of Bangladesh at the U-19 Asia Cup. In the 1990s he played his domestic cricket for Biman Bangladesh Airlines. He made his ODI debut in 1995 at the Asian Cup against Sri Lanka. He missed the 1997 ICC Trophy, in which Bangladesh became champions, but played in the Asian Cup that year. He was also excluded from the 1999 World Cup squad. After the World Cup, he rejoined the team and, with the inspiration of Eddie Barlow, got the chance to play more.

Bashar was one of the leading batsmen in Bangladesh. From January 2004 to June 2007 he was the captain of Bangladesh, during which time he led the team to some notable successes. When Zimbabwe toured Bangladesh in January 2005, Bangladesh recorded its first Test Match win, its first Test Series victory and its first One Day International Series victory. In June 2005, Bangladesh beat world champions Australia at a One Day International in Cardiff.

In April 2006, they came close to beating Australia in a Test match, taking a 158 lead in the first innings and eventually losing by three wickets. Bangladesh lost the ODI series with Zimbabwe 3-2 in August 2006, but beat them in the final qualifying game of the Champions Trophy. Thanks to these efforts, Bangladesh currently ranks above Zimbabwe in the LG ICC ODI rankings, showing that they are improving from game to game.

Bashar had a disappointing 2007 World Cup as a batsman with an average of only 13.12 and a maximum score of 32. Still, Bangladesh did relatively well. After a 1-0 test series defeat against India, Bashar resigned as ODI captain, but wanted to remain part of the ODI team. Although he stated that he wanted to remain test captain, Bashar was removed from this position on June 2, 2007 and replaced by Mohammad Ashraful, who also took over the office of ODI captain. On September 14th, he announced his retirement from international cricket. Then he became captain of the Dhaka Warriors in ICL. In late 2009, he retired from ICL and returned to mainstream Bangladesh cricket. He retired from all forms of professional cricket after playing the 2009-10 season. He is currently playing in the local weekend cricket tournament for the Josephite Warriors. Bashar was also a national goodwill ambassador for UNICEF in Bangladesh.

Habibul Bashar will represent Bangladesh as a brand ambassador during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.