Haleem Chaudhri

Abdul Halim Chowdhury was a Bengali cricketer. He played first-class cricket regularly for different teams from East Pakistan during the latter half of the 1960s. In March 1971, East Pakistan declared independence (and took the new name Bangladesh). Unfortunately, Abdul Halim Chowdhury was killed during the liberation war. Since then he has enjoyed a folk-hero status in the annals of Bangladesh cricket history. Shaheed Jewel, as he is commonly called now, was a role model for the first generation of Bangladeshi cricketers.^[1]

First-class career

He made his first-class debut in May 1966, playing for Dacca against Public Works Department. He scored 38 & 4 in the match. Overall, in 7 first-class matches, he scored 259 runs at an average of 21.58, His best performance in first-class cricket came in January 1971. Playing for East Pakistan Whites against Dacca University, he scored 47 & 65 in the match.^[2]

Opening partnerships

Shamim Kabir was his opening partner in his debut match. The pair, however, failed in this match. In August 1969, he shared a 53 run opening partnership with WK Shafiq-ul-Haq against a strong Karachi Whites bowling attack. Just a week after that, he shared a 50 run stand with Raqibul Hasan. Young Raqibul was in uncharacteristic aggressive mood, and dominated the partnership with 40. In January 1971, he and his opening partner Rauf Ansari, completely dominated the Dacca University bowling, putting on 94 in the 1st innings and 123 in the 2nd.^[2]

References