Pioneer cricket coach Syed Altaf Hossain no more
Widely respected and loved cricket coach Syed Altaf Hossain, credited as being the first cricket coach of independent Bangladesh, breathed his last on Tuesday evening at the age of 81 at his residence in Dhaka.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) informed of the passing of the former fast bowler, who was also the first cricketer from then East Pakistan to get a call-up to a 14-man squad for the Pakistan national team in 1965 against New Zealand.
Born in 1938 in Hooghly, Altaf was a National Sports Award recipient in 1999 and also served as the Bangladesh national team’s coach. He was also certified as a first-class umpire by the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan in 1970.
After Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971, cricketing activities were stalled in the new nation till 1973, and it was Altaf who spearheaded its revival by joining the Bangladesh Krira Parishad as the first cricket coach of Bangladesh. Later on, he was instrumental in getting the women’s game off the ground in the country.
His fondest dream was to see the Bangladesh cricket team rise to the top of world cricket.
“The BCB extends deepest sympathies to the family of Syed Altaf Hossain. We pray to the Almighty for the salvation of his soul,” the press release from BCB said.
