Known more for his television commentary than his cricketing days, Athar Ali Khan was a middle order batsman capable of also bowling slowish medium pace. He represented Bangladesh for close to a decade and was a pivotal man in their national setup. In ODIs, Athar’s numbers didn’t inspire confidence, but it was also a time when Bangladesh were an Associate nation. As a result, they played more unofficial games in the shorter format against fellow Associates. Having started out as a middle order batsman, Athar switched to opening the batting towards the latter part of his career.

Predominantly a shorter format player, he barely played any First-class cricket and his natural free-stroking style of play probably didn’t sync with the format. After retirement, he quickly slipped to being a television commentator and has been active in the field for over a decade.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan