Imrul Kayes (; born 2 February 1987) is a former

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, eponymous bay. Bangladeshi nationality law, Bangladeshi citizenship was fo ...

international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and former captain of Comilla Victorians who played for

Khulna Division Khulna Division () is the second largest of the eight divisions of Bangladesh. It has an area of and a population of 17,416,645 at the 2022 Bangladesh census (preliminary returns). Its headquarters and largest city is Khulna city in Khulna Dist ...

as a left-handed batsman and occasional wicket-keeper.

International career

Kayes made his first-class debut in 2006, playing 15 first-class matches and 16 One Day matches before being called up for the third One Day International between

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and

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Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

. Batting at number three, he made just 12 runs as Bangladesh lost by 79 runs. He made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut in November 2008, playing the first match of a series in South Africa. He opened the batting on debut, but made just 10 and 4 in his two innings, being dismissed twice on the second afternoon of the match. He found form in 2010, scoring 867 runs and becoming the 5th highest runs scorer of the year in ODIs at an average of 32.11. He scored his maiden ODI century against New Zealand. When the

Bangladesh Cricket Board The Bangladesh Cricket Board (; abbreviated as BCB), formerly known as Bangladesh Cricket Control Board, is the governing body of cricket in Bangladesh. It became an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1977, and a Lis ...

(BCB) announced its list of central contracts in November 2010, Imrul Kayes was given a grade B contract. In 2017, in the second test against New Zealand after Mushfiqur Rahim got head injury in the first test, Imrul Kayes served as a substitute wicket-keeper and he had 5 dismissals in an innings, which is also the most for any substitute wicketkeeper in an innings of a test and was also the first substitute wicket-keeper to take 5 test catches. On 21 October 2018, Imrul Kayes scored a career best 144(140) against Zimbabwe in the first ODI, tying it with second most by a Bangladeshi batsman in an ODI along with

Mushfiqur Rahim Mushfiqur Rahim (; born 9 May 1987) is a Bangladeshi cricketer and the former captain of the Bangladesh national cricket team. He is a right-handed middle-order Batting (cricket), batter and wicket-keeper in the national team. Mushfiqur started ...

. After the concluding third ODI, Imrul Kayes had scored 349 runs in the series with scores of 144, 90, and 115, respectively, which would help Bangladesh whitewash Zimbabwe in the series. He accomplished the feat of making the second most runs in a bilateral three match ODI series, just 11 runs shy from current record holder

Babar Azam Mohammad Babar Azam (Urdu, ; ; born 15 October 1994) is a Pakistani international cricketer and a former Captain (cricket), captain of the Pakistan national cricket team , national team in all three formats of the game. A right-handed top-orde ...

. In May 2021, he was named in Bangladesh's ODI preliminary squad for their home series against Sri Lanka, since he last played an ODI against the Windies in 2018.

2011 World Cup

Bangladesh failed to progress beyond the group stage of the 2011 World Cup; Imrul Kayes was Bangladesh's leading run-scorer in the tournament with 188 runs at an average of 37.60. During the tournament, he produced two Man-of-the-Match performances, striking fifties against England and the Netherlands to help Bangladesh to victory on each occasion, though he felt bowler Shafiul Islam deserved the first award instead. With Manjural Islam Rana he became just the second Bangladesh player to win consecutive Man-of-the-Match awards in ODIs.

Domestic career

The BCB founded the six-team

Bangladesh Premier League Bangladesh Premier League (), also known as Dutch-Bangla Bank BPL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Bangladesh organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). It was formed in 2011 by the BCB, after the su ...

in 2012, a twenty20 tournament to be held in February that year. An auction was held for teams to buy players, and Imrul Kayes was bought by the Sylhet Royals for $50,000. He scored 102 runs from 7 innings in the competition. In April the BCB upgraded Imrul Kayes' central contract from grade B to grade A. In October 2018, he was named in the squad for the Comilla Victorians team, following the draft for the

2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League 2019, also known as BPL Season 6 or United Commercial Bank Ltd, UCB BPL 2019 Powered by TVS Motor Company, TVS (for sponsorship reasons), was the sixth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the top level p ...

. In November 2019, he was selected to play for the Chattogram Challengers in the

2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League 2019–20, also known as BPL Season 7 or Bangabandhu BPL Presented by AKASH DTH and Powered by TVS (for sponsorship reasons), was the seventh season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the top level profession ...

Retirement

Imrul announced his retirement from Test and first-class cricket in November 2024.

International centuries

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Imrul Kayes 1987 births Living people Bangladesh Test cricketers Bangladesh One Day International cricketers Bangladesh Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Bangladeshi sportsmen Bangladeshi cricketers Khulna Division cricketers Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Rangpur Riders cricketers Sylhet Strikers cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Asian Games medalists in cricket Cricketers at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for Bangladesh Asian Games cricketers for Bangladesh Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Comilla Victorians cricketers Abahani Limited cricketers Gazi Tank cricketers Brothers Union cricketers Victoria Sporting Club cricketers Bangladesh South Zone cricketers Wicket-keepers People from Meherpur District Cricketers from Khulna Division