BANGLADESH CRICKET

MASHRAFE FAREWELL AT HOME- BCB PRESIDENT


Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan praised inspirational ODI skipper Mashrafee bin Mortaza for his fighting spirit despite his poor form in the World Cup and insisted they are trying to arrange a grand farewell for him at home.

The form of Mashrafee remained a talking point throughout the World Cup as he failed to inspire his teammates through his bowling during the entire tournament, picking only one wicket from the eight matches that he played.

While Shakib Al Hasan looked in dominating mood throughout the tournament it was not the case with Mashrafee, who often looked jaded in the field and seemed to be struggling on numerous occasions.

However, Nazmul insisted that they were not surprised to see such kind of performance from Mashrafee as he was carrying grade two tear from the tri-nation in Ireland but was happy to see the fighting spirit that kept him going despite all difficulties.

‘’Mashrafe doesn’t come into the team as a player. But, if you talk about captain then we won’t find a captain like him anywhere,’’ Nazmul told reporters in London on Wednesday.

‘’I say this all the time, two players have no replacements. Shakib as a player and Mashrafe as a captain,’’ he said.

‘’Except these two, everyone has alternatives but it’s tough to get replacements of these two[ cricketers],’’ he said.

‘’He didn’t do well in the World Cup but we knew that it's very likely that he won’t do well. We didn’t expect him to bowl well in these conditions. He got injured. From the Tri-series final in Ireland he has got grade two tear,’’ he said.

‘’But he is a fighter. We had talked once or twice that he will be rested. He decided that too. But afterwards, he thought I have fought for this country my whole life and now I will get down for the last two matches and I am used to playing with injuries,’’ he said.

‘’We need this type of mentality from everyone,’’ he said.

Mashrafee’s retirement talks hogged the entire spotlight from the middle of the tournament since he announced that he is not ready to quit cricket all together and eyeing to continue.

Earlier, Mashrafe had said that it will be his last appearance in a World Cup and since then there has been a lot of speculation going around on whether he wants to say goodbye to his 18-year old international career following the tournament.

According to Mashrafe, he will quit if there is insistence from the board otherwise he would like to continue despite age looked to be taking a toll on the brave cricketer, who is playing cricket despite having seven surgeries on his knee.

BCB president hinted that they are trying to give a grand farewell to the loyal servant of Bangladesh cricket and insisted it is likely that they would

‘’We will try to do that[ farewell] as good as possible,’’ said Nazmul.

‘’It will be great if we do it at our home soil. The last day we talked with him, we said that. We want to do it properly[ farewell match] in our country,’’ he said.