How it ends also matters
Bangladesh go into the ODI series against Zimbabwe under the leadership of inspirational captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza as firm favourites after the Tigers handed the visitors an innings-defeat in the one-off Test at Dhaka. The team landed in Sylhet yesterday where the ODI series is slated to begin from March 1, with Mashrafe set to join today.
While there has been nothing definitive on Mashrafe's future as both player and captain, this may very well be the last time that the skipper will lead his troops out to the field in a series, with Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan announcing that they are set to name a new captain following a board meeting inside a month or month and half. This may or may not be Mashrafe's last series but going by what the BCB president said, it is a possibility that cannot be averted in the near future.
While Mashrafe's captaincy will be in the spotlight, it is the performance of the captain fantastic that will take centre stage in the upcoming series after he failed to live up to expectations in recent forays. It will be an opportunity to end on a high and indeed to motivate himself for a new challenge but above all, it is the indomitable spirit of Mashrafe the cricketer and what he stands for that deserves a crescendo to match his legacy.
His legacy has certainly come under question in recent times. The World Cup performances failed to inspire and he has not really made much of domestic league opportunities or indeed in the BPL last year. The BCB president insinuated that they were going to turn a blind eye towards Mashrafe's fitness if he continues. He however made it clear that the captaincy of the side is a 'worry'.
"We are worried about the captain at the moment. If we name someone else as captain then he [Mashrafe] can get into the team as a player through performances and there are no problems with that," Hassan told reporters on February 19.
'The time has come for him to take a decision on how long he wants to continue," he had added.
That the BCB president can talk so brazenly on the issue of replacing the most decorated captain in Bangladesh's cricket history, hints heavily at the below-par performances of the lion-hearted cricketer. The BCB president had also previously said that Mashrafe plays in the side due to the captaincy quota. For a cricketer who has been the symbol of overcoming debilitating pain, it is a telling blow to his legacy in his career's closing chapter.
Without a doubt, he is the most iconic captain of this country and his fans and Bangladesh cricket deserves to see him off with a bang; not a whimper. He had led Bangladesh from the front even through a host of surgeries which would have rendered almost anyone in world cricket unable to take the field and yet his end is attached to the honour of the nation itself, as one of their most celebrated over the years.
While rummaging through retirements of legends from the game, Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga set a fine example in recent memory. In his last ODI series, he bowled a yorker so good, it made Tamim Iqbal lose his balance and tumble onto the ground only to see his leg stump rattled. Even without his pace of yesteryears, Malinga showed his venom at his end. Mashrafe needs to do something similar in order for a fitting end. The end matters, not only for himself but Bangladesh cricket as well.
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