Mash here to stay, for now

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was retained as ODI captain for this month’s three-match series in Sri Lanka, putting an end to any doubts over the continuation of his international career. 

Everybody was curious about whether the most successful Bangladesh captain would continue with his international career after the World Cup and especially about whether the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) would consider appointing a new ODI skipper. However, neither Mashrafe nor the board have so far come up with a clear statement.

Asked about whether Mashrafe had been named captain till the recently concluded World Cup, BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury and media committee chairman Jalal Yunus told The Daily Star that they primarily looked to keep Mashrafe on as skipper until after the quadrennial mega-event.

“Right at this moment it’s not possible for me to talk about the exact decision regarding the time frame as I would have to check the papers but without any doubt, he was our consideration till the World Cup,” Chowdhury, currently in London attending the ICC board meeting, said over phone yesterday.

“He [Mashrafe] was appointed as captain till the World Cup but as he is available automatically, he is our captain to lead the team in Sri Lanka,” said Yunus.

BCB cricket operations committee chairman and former national captain Akram Khan added that, ‘We only discuss Mashrafe’s future when it comes from him. Everything will depend on Mashrafe’.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan, however, recently told reporters in London that he had discussed retirement plans with the pacer.

“We will do it [his farewell] as nicely as possible. It should be done at home. We told him that during our last conversation with him, that we want to do it back home,” informed Hassan.

35-year-old Mashrafe, who suffered with hamstring injury throughout the World Cup in the United Kingdom, where he took just one wicket from eight matches, told the Daily Star in an interview during the tournament that, ‘I will think about these things [retirement] only after the World Cup ends. If my career is over, I will think about it after the World Cup and take a decision in a proper way’.

Although Mashrafe has not retired from Test cricket, he did not represent the side in the longer-version format since injuring his right leg while captaining the side for the first time in 2009 against West Indies.

On 4 April 2017, Mashrafe announced his retirement from Twenty20 internationals after the Sri Lanka tour.