Bangladeshi cricketer Mosharraf Rubel dies of cancer at 40

Former Bangladesh national team cricketer Mosharraf Hossain Rubel has died of cancer at the age of 40 after struggling with the disease for three years.

Diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2019, Mosharraf’s condition declined on Tuesday evening and was rushed to United Hospital where the doctors pronounced the left-arm spinner dead.

A heavyweight in the domestic arena, Mosharraf appeared in five ODIs for the Tigers and played his last game of cricket in the Bangladesh Premier League in 2019 in the Cumilla Victorians’ colours.

He fell ill during the tournament. Following the event, he collapsed several times within a few days and several tests were done on him. After being diagnosed with the tumour, he flew to Singapore, underwent a successful surgery and gradually recovered in about a year.

He was looking to return to the game when COVID shut everything down. In November 2020, he fell sick again and tests showed that the tumour had relapsed. Mosharraf then underwent different treatments and therapies in the country and abroad, including several chemotherapies that left him bedridden for the last few months.

Last month, his health deteriorated critically again and he went under intensive care for some time, which somewhat improved the sportsman’s physical condition.

Mosharraf made his ODI debut for the national team in 2008 against South Africa in Chattogram. After falling out of the national team for a long time, he returned to the fold against Afghanistan in 2016 and grabbed three wickets in a match that Bangladesh won.

His last game in the national outfit was against England where he went wicketless.

Mosharraf’s domestic career spans almost two decades. He snared 392 wickets in 112 first-class games with a bet of nine for 105. He also scored 3,305 runs including two centuries and 16 fifties.

In 104 List A games, he bagged 120 wickets, scored 1792 runs which include eight half-centuries. In 56 Twenty20s, Mosharraf grabbed 60 wickets.