Born on November 20, 1983, Rajin Saleh is considered as one of the most talented prospects from Bangladesh. Pitch forked into the international scene at an early age of 19, Saleh was considered as one of the favorites of the then Bangladesh coach, Dav Whatmore. He was the 12th man in Bangladesh's inaugural test against India in 2000.

However, he had to wait for 3 years before making his Test and ODI debut during the tour of Pakistan in 2003. Saleh was first recognized when he averaged 56 in a season for his club Sylhet in the 2000-01 season. He was drafted into the Bangladesh cricket Board XI and scored 81 against an Australian Academy XI, an innings that drew praise from the Australian media.

Technically sound and an ability to demonstrate patience, Saleh went on to captain Bangladesh in the Champions Trophy, 2004 held in England after Habibul Basher broke his thumb. However, like any other Bangladesh batsman, lack of consistency has been the bane of Saleh. He is yet to notch up a century in Test cricket and has failed to match his talent with any sort of meaningful contributions. He did enjoy a brief period of success at Test level in 2005 and the early part of 2006, but failed to pass 21 in his last 7 innings before being axed from the Test squad.

Barring a century against Kenya, his ODI graph too followed the one of his Tests and he was dumped from the team after the 2006 Champions Trophy. He was a part of the 2007 ICC WC squad, but did not feature in any games.

After the 2007 WC he played 7 Tests in which he went past fifty only once. The selectors seeing the low scorers decided to drop him from the squad, He has not played for the National side since 2008. However, he continues to play first class cricket for Sylhet.

Saleh has also opened a cricket academy in Sylhet.


By Pradeep KrishnamurthyAs of April 2014