DT e-Paper 06 April 2017

DT
18
Sports
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2017
‘T20I retirement was Mashrafe’s decision’
Shakib most likely candidate for T20I captaincy, says BCB boss
• Ali Shahriyar Amin
from Colombo
Bangladesh’s Mashrafe bin Mortaza bowls during training in Sri Lanka recently
MASHRAFE'S
T20I CAREER
M Runs Ave Wkts Ave
53 377 13.96 41 36.51
t Made his T20I debut against
Zimbabwe in Khulna on November
28, 2006.
t Announced his decision to
retire from T20Is on Tuesday,
moments before the start of the
first of two matches against Sri
Lanka at R Premadasa Stadium.
t Will make his last T20I appearance
against the Lankans in
Colombo today.
AFP
BCB president Nazmul Hasan said it was limited-over captain
Mashrafe bin Mortaza’s decision to retire from T20Is.
The BCB chief informed that Mashrafe can play ODIs as
long as he is fit and that there is no chance of dropping him in
the 50-over format.
“Mashrafe is not just a player who can be considered only
for his performances with bat and ball. He is beyond that. He
has something more special. It is impossible to find another
Mashrafe. Be it his leadership quality or enormous contributions
for the country or dedication; he is very much rare,”
Nazmul told the media at Hotel Taj Samudra in Colombo yesterday.
“He is from another level. We will miss him. We might find
a good player in future but finding Mashrafe’s replacement
will be very tough,” he said.
The BCB boss said they are planning to build a new team
ahead of the next World T20.
“Mashrafe would not have made it to the next World T20,
so we would have needed a new captain anyway. He would
have been unlikely to play for more than 18 months. We wanted
separate captains for three formats. We preferably wanted
three separate teams with at least four-five specialist players
in each format,” he said.
“In a meeting a couple of nights ago, I told the coach (Chandika
Hathurusingha) not to disturb the team. I told him to
make a parallel team with rising players like [Nazmul Hossain]
Shanto, Afif [Hossain], Azmir [Ahmed] and [Mohammad] Saifuddin,
and then coach them. Later, we will get them ready
in two years. He said he is ready to do so but there is no break
of even 15 days in the next two years. But we did find some
players like Mustafizur [Rahman], [Mehedi Hasan] Miraz and
[Mosaddek Hossain] Saikat in that process, so this was our basic
plan – to find new talent.
“I told this to Mashrafe. He has always said this would be
his last T20I series as captain, but he wouldn’t be left out of
the squad. I met Shakib [al Hasan], Mashrafe, Tamim [Iqbal]
and Mushfiqur [Rahim] and told them they have to decide
themselves what they want to do, rather than us telling them.
Because these players have contributed so much for the team
and the country. But Mashrafe didn’t tell us about his retirement
at that time. The declaration of his retirement was his
decision, but we didn’t know about it.
“I don’t know why he said he has retired, but as far as the
discussion we have had, he is in the squad. He would just
leave captaincy. He bowled exceedingly well in [Tuesday's]
game, didn’t he? If he is in form and fit, who will leave him?
It is a different issue if he doesn’t want to play. There’s no way
we told him to go,” he added.
The BCB supremo stated that there is no chance of changing
ODI captaincy since Mashrafe will be allowed to play as
long as fitness permits him.
“There is no chance of changing ODI captaincy. A year
ago, we thought that the [2017] Champions trophy will be
Mashrafe's last tournament. But we think he could play more
than that series. He will play as long as he remains fit. There is
no chance of dropping him from ODI squad. When he retires
from ODIs, we will hope that he will be in BCB as well. That’s
our wish,” he said.
The BCB president said all-rounder Shakib is the most likely
candidate for the post of the next T20I skipper.
“If Mashrafe had suddenly said he wouldn’t be able to play
the second T20I, we would have gone to Shakib for captaincy.
It would be the automatic choice. Shakib is the most likely
candidate. We always had five candidates and since Mashrafe
and Mushfiqur are already captains, we only had Tamim,
Mahmudullah and Shakib as the remaining ones. Shakib’s
mental attitude and performance show that he has matured,
and is a full grown-up. He is ahead of other candidates,” he
added. •