A file photo from December 9, 2018 shows Bangladesh captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza is appealing for an lbw decision during their first ODI match against West Indies at Mirpur. — New Age photo
At 35 years of age, Bangladesh’s one-day international skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza finds himself as a veteran not only in the Bangladesh side but also in the world stage from more than one perspective as he gears up to lead Bangladesh for their 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup mission in UK.
Mashrafee, who made his international debut in 2001 against Zimbabwe in a Test match, is the third oldest player in the upcoming World Cup in terms of international debut behind West Indies’s destructive batsman Chris Gayle and Pakistani all-rounder Shoaib Malik, as both of them debuted in 1999.
Mashrafee, alongside team-mates Sakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and India’s World Cup winning skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni are the five players who are set to make their fourth appearance in the grandest cricketing extravaganza, while Gayle will be playing his fifth World Cup.
Mashrafee and Gayle both made their World Cup debuts in the 2003 edition held in South Africa, but Mashrafee’s exclusion from the 2011 World Cup in the sub continent due to a knee injury kept his World Cup count to three.
Mashrafee is overall the ninth oldest cricketer in the 2019 World Cup, with South Africa’s 40 year-old leg-spinner Imran Tahir being the oldest.
Of all the 10 skippers in the 2019 World Cup, Mashrafee and West Indies’s skipper Jason Holder are the only captains who have experience of captaining their side in the mega event, both performing the role in 2015.
Mashrafee is the second most experienced captain in the World Cup, leading the team 73 times in ODI matches, as England skipper Eoin Morgan topped this list with 93 matches as a captain under his belt.
On June 2, when Mashrafee leads the Bangladesh side to the field against South Africa to kick-start their World Cup campaign, Mashrafee will become the first Bangladeshi skipper to lead the side in two World Cups.
Although Mashrafee holds the record for leading Bangladesh for the most number of ODIs, in World Cups this record is held by former batsman and current national selector Habibul Bashar, who led the side in nine matches in the 2007 World Cup.
The current vice captain and the skipper of the 2011 edition Sakib al Hasan was the second name on that list with seven matches and all three of them have three wins each in their World Cup fixtures.
In the forthcoming World Cup, Mashrafee has the chance to surpass both of them in terms of matches played and wins as a captain in World Cups for Bangladesh.
However, the record of playing most World Cup matches for Bangladesh seems to be out of Mashrafee’s reach, as Sakib, Tamim and Mushfiq currently hold the record with 21 appearances each and Mohammad Rafique standing in second position with 17 matches while he stood in third position with 16 matches.
Source: New Age.
