Zakir Hasan

Born on February 1, 1998, in Bangladesh's Sylhet region, Mohammad Zakir Hasan has made significant strides in domestic cricket as a left-handed opening batsman and wicket-keeper. He first gained attention with his performances in youth cricket, particularly in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup in 2016, where he played a key role in Bangladesh's journey to the semifinals.

Zakir's breakthrough in first-class cricket came when he displayed consistent batting performances for Sylhet Division in the Bangladesh Cricket League. Zakir made his Test debut for Bangladesh against India in December 2022, scoring an impressive 100 in his maiden match, which instantly marked him as a player to watch.

Zakir Hasan Along the years

Zakir Hasan Career

As the first opener from Bangladesh to score a century in his Test debut, Zakir Hasan created history. This incredible performance was accomplished in the fourth innings of a December 2022 match in Chattogram between Bangladesh and India. Virat Kohli noticed his innings and commented on how much his performance irritated the Indian squad, which was a noteworthy accomplishment for a rookie.

Seven years after he started playing domestic cricket, Zakir made his Test debut at the age of 24. He had already participated in 69 first-class games by the time he reached the international scene, which is unusual for Bangladeshi players who frequently make their debuts earlier. Despite his late arrival, he made his international cricket debut in a T20I match against Sri Lanka in 2018. But Zakir merited another opportunity following his stellar 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons.

He earned a berth in the Test team for the India series in November 2022, with an innings of 173 against India A. In the contest, Zakir proved his prowess by efficiently handling India's finest spinners, including R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel. Before being bowled out by Ashwin, he became the second opener from Bangladesh to achieve 100 against India, a feat he achieved by a sweep off Patel’s bowling.

Zakir Hasan Domestic Career

Zakir Hasan, a promising talent in Bangladesh cricket, made his first-class debut on September 18, 2015, in the National Cricket League. His early performances quickly caught the attention of selectors, and by December 2015, Zakir earned a spot in Bangladesh's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, showcasing his potential at the international youth level.

Zakir continued to impress in domestic cricket and expanded his portfolio by making his Twenty20 (T20) debut on November 8, 2016, playing for the Chittagong Vikings in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). In January 2018, Zakir achieved a significant milestone in his career. Playing for East Zone in the Bangladesh Cricket League during the 2017–18 season, he scored a remarkable 211 against Central Zone, cementing his place as one of the rising stars in Bangladesh's cricketing circuit.

Zakir Hasan Franchise Career

Zakir Hasan started his BPL career in the 2016-17 season for Chatur Gram Challengers. In his first BPL season, Zakir scored 32 runs in 10 matches at an average of just 8, but the very next year, while playing for Rangpur Rangers, he scored 169 runs in eight matches, which also included his first BPL half-century.

In 2019, once again playing for Rangpur, he scored 126 runs in eight innings at an average of 18. In the 2020 season, Zakir Hasan could not play any matches. In 2021-22 once again, Zakir Hasan joined the team of Chatur Gram Challengers and his performance remained the same as the first season, where he scored only 38 runs in four matches at an average of 9.50.

In the 2023 BPL, Zakir Hasan was included in the Sylhet Strikers team and Zakir scored 251 runs in 15 matches at an average of 17.2, in which two half-centuries came off his bat. Similarly, in the recently held 2024 BPL, Zakir Hasan played 12 matches for Sylhet Strikers and scored 224 runs at an average of 20.36, including the highest innings of his BPL career of 70 not out.

Zakir Hasan has so far played a total of 60 BPL matches for four teams, in which he has scored 840 runs in 52 innings at an average of 17.87 and has also scored four half-centuries.

Zakir Hasan International Career

On December 14, 2022, Zakir Hasan made his Test debut for Bangladesh against India, impressively scoring his first Test century just three days later, becoming the fourth Bangladeshi player to achieve this milestone on his debut. Throughout his Test career so far, he has played 11 matches, accumulating 569 runs at an average of 27. His performance includes 67 fours and 5 sixes. Zakir's most recent Test match occurred in September 2024 at Green Park, Kanpur, where he unfortunately did not score, managing only 0 runs off 24 balls.

In One Day Internationals (ODIs), Zakir has participated in just one match, where he scored a single run with an average of 1. In his latest ODI appearance in September 2023 at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, he again faced difficulties, contributing only 1 run off 5 balls.

His experience in T20 cricket has been limited as well. So far, he has played 4 matches, scoring a total of 11 runs at an average of 3, with only one four to his name. In his latest T20 game against Pakistan in October 2023 at Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field in Hangzhou, China, Zakir struggled again, scoring 0 runs off 2 balls.

Overall, while Zakir Hasan has had a notable start to his Test career, his performances in ODIs and T20s have yet to make a significant impact. With time and experience, there’s hope for him to improve and establish himself in all formats of the game.

Zakir Hasan Test Career

Zakir Hasan started his Test career on 14 December 2022 against India at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, where he scored 20 runs off 45 balls in the first innings of the Test match. However, in the second innings of this Test, he scored a century off 224 balls and also made a record of scoring a century in his debut Test. After this, he once again scored a half-century inning of 51 runs off 135 balls in the second inning of the second Test of the series.

In his first Test series itself, Zakir Hasan impressed everyone by scoring 186 runs at an average of 46.50. On 14 June 2023, Zakir Hasan played the third Test match of his career against Afghanistan where he once again scored a half-century innings of 71 runs off 95 balls in the second innings of the Test match and played an important role in Bangladesh's huge victory of 546 runs.

In the Test series against New Zealand in 2023, Zakir Hasan could score only one half-century in four innings and then gradually Zakir Hasan's performance kept declining in this format. He scored his last half-century in the second Test match of the Test series against Sri Lanka in 2024. After that, in 2024 itself, he scored only 68 runs in two Test matches against Pakistan at an average of 22.67, and in the recent Test series against India, his performance was quite disappointing where he scored only 46 runs in four innings at an average of 11.50. Zakir Hasan has so far scored 569 runs in 22 innings of 11 Test matches at an average of 27.01 and the century in his first Test match is the only century of his Test career.

Zakir Hasan ODI Career

Zakir Hasan played his only ODI match against New Zealand on 26 September 2023 in Mirpur, where he scored just one run in five balls while opening the innings for Bangladesh. After this match, he did not get the opportunity to play any match in the ODI format, as of October 2024.

Zakir Hasan T20I Career

Zakir Hasan started his T20 career on 15 February 2018 against Sri Lanka at Sher Bangla Stadium, where he faced nine balls and scored just 10 runs. Zakir Hasan has played a total of four matches in his T20 career so far in which he has scored just 11 runs at an average of 2.75, out of which 10 runs came in his debut match.

Zakir Hasan played the last match of his T20 career against Pakistan in Hangover on 7 October 2023, which was an Asian Games match. In this match, Zakir Hasan was out on the opening wicket.

Zakir Hasan Under 19 Career

Zakir Hasan took part in the 2016 Under-19 World Cup in which Bangladesh performed very well and was eliminated in the semi-finals after losing to Sri Lanka. In this World Cup, Zakir Hasan scored 118 runs in 6 matches at an average of 39.33 in which his highest score was unbeaten 75 runs.