By Rashik Tajwar
Although cricket can be traced back with certainty to the seventeenth century, most of the early contests are lost in the mists of time. Occasional snippets survived, but with scoring and newspapers very much in their infancy, individual feats are rarely recorded. But it was easy to gather and collect all the records and information of Bangladesh cricket as its foundation was laid in 1971, not long ago.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board was looking for something which help the country’s cricket to grow more rapidly. For that, they arranged a national club championship in 1974–75. The execution generated huge interest among the audience and it became a successful decision by the board. The final was played between Cumilla and Barishal in which the people of Bangladesh witnessed something for the very first time.
A young man from Barishal scored a fine century eventually becoming the first centurion for his country in domestic level. His name is Ahsan Zaheer. A fearless cricketer whose century at that time inspired many to become a cricketer, or to get involved with it.
Many says, Mehrab Hossain is the first centurion in the history of Bangladesh cricket, but behind an imaginery curtain a person will always smile at us to remind that - Mehrab Hossain is not the first centurion. The person smiling is the first centurion, and his name is - Mr. Ahsan Zaheer.
