Kandy cricketer from St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota who led the team in 2004, M. Rizlan Iqbar, has been named as the captain of the Qatar national team.
Rizlan becomes probably the second player from Sri Lanka to lead a foreign country in cricket after former Antonian Thaiyar Mohamed, captain of the 1977 school team, went on to lead the Singapore national team and is now domiciled in Perth, Australia.
Rizlan as an outstanding all-rounder played for St. Anthony’s for four consecutive years. His cricketing career started at the Under-13, 15 and 17 age groups and represented the school in almost all inter-school tournaments.
Rizlan played for Kandy Cricket Club, Kandy Youth Cricket Club and Old Antonians SC and was part of the Sri Lanka Schools’ cricket pool.
In the 2003-2004 season he represented Sri Lanka Under-19 and went on to captain the Asian Cricket Club and played T20 Internationals and official 50-over games, named “List A” matches organised by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Rizlan’s remarkable cricket journey continued when he became a member of the Qatar national team in 2010. Since 2014, Rizlan had been leading the Galfar Cricket Club in the country’s domestic league. Then, in December 2019, Rizlan was selected to play for the team Falcon Hunters in the inaugural Qatar T10 League.
Rizlan played a crucial role in helping his team to lift the trophy with his batting and wicket-keeping prowess. In the T10 league, Rizlan received two Man of the Match awards and the Man of the Series award as well.
He became the leading run-scorer of the league and through his efforts, Falcon Hunters clinched the inaugural season of the Qatar T10 League.
He is now an energetic and highly motivated cricket coach, conducting coaching particularly for the juniors.
He obtained his Level-II qualification at the Cricket Coach Education Course conducted by the ICC Academy in Dubai in May 2019.
He got his ACC Level-I in April 2015 before receiving accreditation for Level-II coaching by the Qatar Cricket Association in Doha in December 2016.