Mohammad Nafees Iqbal Khan (; born 31 January 1985), better known as Nafees Iqbal, is a former Bangladeshi 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. He played as a right-handed opening batsman, and was a part-time right-arm medium pace bowler.

Biography

Nafees Iqbal Khan was born to footballer Iqbal Khan and mother Nusrat Iqbal Khan, in the port city of

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 ...

. His paternal ''

Khan Khan may refer to: * Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name * Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by various ethnicities Art and entertainment * Khan (band), an English progressiv ...

'' family is a prestigious family in the city, migrated from

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. Nafees Iqbal is the elder brother of

Tamim Iqbal Tamim Iqbal Khan ( Bengali: তামিম ইকবাল খান; born 20 March 1989), commonly known as Tamim Iqbal, is a Bangladeshi former international cricketer and commentator from Chittagong who was captain of the national team in O ...

and the nephew of former

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 ...

captain Akram Khan, who both played Test cricket for Bangladesh.

Career

He represented Bangladesh U19 team in youth level and captained the national side at the

2002 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2002 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was played in New Zealand from 19 January to 9 February 2002. A total of 16 sides competed in the tournament with Australia defeating South Africa in the final. It was the fourth edition of the Under-19 Cric ...

. He rose to limelight and prominence after scoring a hundred (118 off 168 balls) for

A against the touring

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

team in 2003–04 and he was disparaging towards the England spinners which he faced, commenting their spinners as "ordinary". His comments drew more press attention than his batting. He also played for Bangladesh during the

2004 ICC Champions Trophy The 2004 ICC Champions Trophy was held in England in September 2004. Twelve teams competed in 15 matches spread over 16 days at three venues: Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Edgbaston, Rose Bowl (cricket ground), The Rose Bowl and The Oval. The nation ...

. His only Test century came in January 2005, one which aided Bangladesh towards their first-ever series victory, 1–0 against

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. However he couldn't achieve better milestones like his brother Tamim Iqbal during his short playing career and was dropped from the national team in 2006 following a string of poor scores. His last international match came in April 2006 which was a test match against Australia. In 2020, one of the friends of Nafees Iqbal revealed that Tamim Iqbal's success was primarily due to the sacrifice of his older brother Nafees. In 2016, he was appointed as team manager of

Khulna Titans Khulna Tigers () is a franchise Twenty20 cricket team representing the Khulna division in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), a Twenty20 cricket tournament. The franchise was owned by Gemcon Sports and was founded in 2016 as a replacement for ...

in the

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 ...

. Nafees was recruited in by the management team of the

Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...

for the

2018 Indian Premier League The 2018 Indian Premier League season (also known as IPL 11 and branded as Vivo IPL 2018) was the eleventh season of the Indian Premier League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the BCCI in 2007. The season, which was held f ...

season as a translator for his fellow Bangladeshi seamer Mustafizur Rahman. His role as a translator was also credited in the 2019 Netflix original webseries '' Cricket Fever: Mumbai Indians''.

Personal life

He is the elder brother of cricketer

and the nephew of former cricketer Akram Khan. On 20 June 2020, he was reportedly tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

and has been kept in self isolation at his residence in Chittagong.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iqbal, Nafees 1985 births Living people Bangladeshi cricketers Bangladesh One Day International cricketers Bangladesh Test cricketers 21st-century Bangladeshi sportsmen Cricketers from Chittagong Division Brothers Union cricketers Bangladesh East Zone cricketers Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity cricketers Khan family (Bangladesh) Bangladeshi Sunni Muslims Bangladeshi people of Bihari descent 21st-century Muslims Cricketers from Chittagong