Tigers eyeing fitting farewell to Mashrafe
Image : Cricfrenzy
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said on Thursday that he will step down as Bangladesh's ODI captain at the end of the ongoing series against Zimbabwe, putting water to all the speculation regarding his immediate future.
Bangladesh will be eyeing to give a fitting farewell to their inspirational skipper as this would be the last game they will play under his leadership.
Bangladesh won the first match by a record 169-run, their highest margin win against any side before surviving a Donald Tiripano-scare to clinch a thrilling four-run victory in the second ODI.
Thereby they took an unassailable 2-0 lead and stood on another chance to inflict a whitewash.
Overall it will be Bangladesh’s fifth whitewash over Zimbabwe if they can give Mashrafe a fitting farewell.
The captain can also end his journey on a high as it will be his 50th ODI win while he will be in-charge of Tigers earning fourth successive clean sweep over the tourist in the ODI’s format.
‘’I am quitting from captaincy after tomorrows match,’’ Mashrafee announced while reading a script that was stored on his mobile before taking up questions ahead of the series against Zimbabwe at Sylhet on Thursday.
‘’I am thankful to Bangladesh Cricket Board for keeping trust on me and players who played under me during this time frame. I am sure it was not an easy journey,’’ he said.
‘’I got captaincy but could not prolong it due to injury apart from the last one and I am thankful to everyone for backing me,’’ he said adding that if he is picked as a player he will try to impart his knowledge to the next skipper. b
‘’If I am picked as a player I will try to share all the experience to the next skipper and I am looking forward to it,’’ he said
Mashrafee, who made his senior team debut in 2001, was first named ODI captain in 2010. After a few short stints, he reclaimed the leadership role in November 2014, leading the side to their first-ever knockouts appearance at World Cup, 2015.
Under Mashrafee, Bangladesh fortified their status as a rising force of ODI cricket by making a run to the semifinals of the 2017 Champions Trophy. In all Mortaza has led the side 87 in games, winning 49 and losing 36 - a record unparalleled in Bangladesh cricket.
Mashrafee said that he took the decision after getting up this morning and insisted that enough is enough for him.
‘’I took the decision after getting up in the morning. I spoke with my family and they supported me. For me it was like enough is enough,’’ he said adding that he continued for so long as he was unwilling to give up.
‘’I continued after the World Cup because I just did not want to give up though it was one of the toughest period of my career,’’ he said.
‘’If everything goes smoothly then life is not challenging. Obviously it’s been tough. Specially I took it as a challenge also[ after the World Cup] because I think give up word can’t be an option. We say it but nobody try to prove by their work. Tough time can be there, even tougher can happen. So giving up is one thing and not giving up is another thing,’’ he said.
Under Mashrafe’s captaincy, Bangladesh played 87 matches till date and won 49. If Bangladesh wins the third ODI, then it will be Mashrafe’s 50th win as captain, a feat that no other captain of the country could achieve.
But more than the milestone, Mashrafe focused onto winning the game.
“It is important to win the game than achieving another milestone. We players play to win the game for Bangladesh, not for the milestone. So we’ll come here to win the game and it’s the ultimate target,” he said.
As Zimbabwe showed in the second ODI, Bangladesh shouldn’t think of making it cake-walk, the Tigers have their own problem before the final ODI. Not that they are worried about their performance, but it is all about the team combination.
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