BSS, Sylhet :
Ending the speculations, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza stepped down from the Bangladesh ODI captaincy by his own and announced that the third ODI against Zimbabwe, to be held today (Friday) is going to be his last match as captain.
But history beckons him on his last match as captain as the win, which will also complete another whitewash on Zimbabwe, will give him the 50th win as captain, something no other captain of this country could achieve. The next best for Bangladesh was Habibul Bashar Sumon who led 29 wins in 68 matches as captain.
Under Mashrafe’s captaincy Bangladesh played 87 matches till date, also the highest number of matches a captain lead the Tigers.
Though the win number 50 is not new in world cricket, especially when three captains Rickey Ponting (165), MS Dhoni (110), Alan Border (107) led the country win more than 100 matches, it’s a special feat for a Bangladeshi captain.
To achieve the feat, Mashrafe now must win the game because he won’t get another chance to do it as captain unless Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) considers giving him the captaincy again on interim basis. Especially when Shakib Al Hasan has been serving the ban and BCB is not finding a suitable person to give the captaincy for long term, it is likely that Mashrafe could continue as captain on interim basis.
Mashrafe appeared not to be so interested for the milestone, rather he wants to win another game for the country.
“We players don’t play for the milestone. As we take the field for the third game tomorrow, we’ll try to win another game. That’s the ultimate target,” Mashrafe said when the milestone of 50th win as captain was reminded.
The first time Mashrafe got the captaincy of Bangladesh was in 2009 during the side’s West Indies tour but he sustained a knee injury on the first day of the first Test and was ruled out from the entire series. After that match, Mashrafe never played any Test.
The first time he led the side in ODI cricket in 2010 but recurring injury cut short his captaincy stint. He was given the captaincy role in 2014 again at a moment when Bangladesh cricket hit the lowest ebb. He is considered as the person to bring up a renaissance in Bangladesh’s cricket in his second stint as captain as he gave the country some memorable wins, including first bilateral series victory over Pakistan, South Africa, India. Under his captaincy, Bangladesh moved to the quarterfinal of 2015 World Cup and semifinal of 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. Moreover also under his captaincy, Bangladesh won the first major trophy in male cricket when they became the champions of tri-nation series in Ireland.
But the 2019 World Cup would be an Achilles-heel in his captaincy career after he led Bangladesh an eighth finish in the tournament. On personal ground, he was also a symbol of failure, taking just one wicket in eight matches. Basically after that Mashrafe’s retirement issue came to the forefront.
