Athar Ali Khan

Bangladeshi cricket commentator

the politician

Athar Ali Khan (; born 10 February 1962) is a Bangladeshi cricket commentator and former cricketer. Throughout the 1980s, Athar played as a middle order batsman, batting mostly at No. 4 or 5. Later on, encouraged by the Indian Test Cricketer, Mohinder Amarnath, Athar started opening regularly for the Bangladesh national cricket team. He was a slow medium pacer taking six wickets in ODI matches. He is an Urdu speaking Bangladeshi. His ancestors are from Uttar Pradesh now in India.

In 1984, Athar played for the Bangladesh Tigers in the first South East Asian Cup. A year later he played in the 3 Day match against Sri Lanka in Dhaka. During the season 1984–85 he was part of the Dhaka University team which won the National cricket title. In the semi final, against Dhaka district, Athar scored 155 and shared a record stand of 447 with Tariquzzaman Munir (308). Athar's highest ODI score (82) came against Pakistan in 1997. There, he put on a century partnership (110) with skipper Akram Khan (59). He was involved with another century partnership a year later. Against Kenya, he put on 137 for the first wicket with Mohammad Rafiq. Athar's own contribution was 47. This partnership set up Bangladesh's first ever ODI win. His best bowling in ODI was 2/33 against India at Mohali in 1997. Sourav Ganguly was one of his victims. Athar played for Bangladesh in three ICC Trophy tournaments, in England in 1986, in Kenya in 1994 and finally in Malaysia in 1997. He had a disappointing time in England in '86, as he lost his place in the side midway through the trophy, due to lack of form. He had scored only 55 runs from 5 innings. The wet conditions in England did not suit Athar's batting technique. After being overlooked for the 1990 trophy in Netherlands, Athar returned for 1994 tournament in Kenya. There also, he failed to live up to the expectations, scoring only 90 runs from 6 innings. However, Athar played a big part in Bangladesh's success 3 years later. He scored 170 runs from 9 innings, with 2 not outs, as Bangladesh became the unbeaten champion.

1988 was a highly successful year for Athar Ali Khan. First, at the 2nd South East Asian Cup at Hong Kong Athar scored 92 not out against Hong Kong, 69 not out against Singapore in the League matches and followed these with 64 in the final against Hong Kong. He was adjudged the Man of the Match for the final. Athar played for Bangladesh in 3 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation cricket tournaments in Dhaka. He scored 52 against Sri Lanka A in 1994, to set up a win for his team.

He studied public administration at Dhaka University.

S NoOpponentVenueDateMatch PerformanceResult 1 Sri Lanka Eden Gardens, Kolkata 31 December 1990 4 0 24 0 ; 78* (95 balls) won by 71 runs.