Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza last featured in an international match back in January this year, when the Tigers hosted Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe for a tri-nation series. Although he has played a number of matches in Dhaka Premier League and Bangladesh Cricket League following that series, it has been two months since he last played a competitive game.

Bangladesh have had a busy schedule hosting Sri Lanka for a Test and a T20I series, then traveling to Sri Lanka and India to take part in the Nidahas trophy and to play a bilateral series against Afghanistan, respectively. And during this whole time Mashrafe was out of the international arena as Bangladesh had no ODI fixtures to play.

Six months is a long time in modern-day international cricket. It is tough to maintain the mental rhythm to offer consistency after such long gaps, especially for the pacers. So, Mashrafe is now dealing with increased workload in a bid to maintain fitness and get good control over his bowling ahead of the away series.

Mashrafe has been bowling in full run up for a week now. He has been putting his cross-seam, semi cross-seam, cutter, and slower deliveries to the test alongside bowling regular inswingers and outswingers.

Mashrafe has also been preparing himself to bowl better on batting-friendly wickets, which have become widely popular for limited-over games. The more the bowler’s ability to trouble the batsmen on flat wickets, the better are the chances of taking a scalp.

To master every aspects of the ability to turn flat wickets into wicket-taking pitches, Mashrafe tries his best to create competitive match-like environment around him during the practice sessions. The veteran right-arm pacer is aware of the fact that one cannot offer his whole array of abilities in a match unless he doesn’t give his hundred per cent during the long hours of practice.