Rangpur Riders captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza (R) shares a light moment with team-mate Chris Gayle after defeating Dhaka Dynamites in the Bangladesh Premier League final at Mirpur on Tuesday.
Veteran cricketer Mashrafee bin Murtaza expressed his willingness to continue playing domestic Twenty20 matches in the upcoming days after his side Rangpur Riders secured their maiden Bangladesh Premier League title on Tuesday.
The 34-year old veteran announced his retirement from the Twenty20 internationals in April during the Tigers’ two-match series against Sri Lanka and since then he had been only playing in the ODI format for the national side.
Despite retiring from the shortest format of the game, Mashrafee was one of the top performers in the recent BPL, where he displayed some phenomenal performance both with bat and bowl.
His performance ensured Rangpur did not lose their way and reached eliminator before Chris Gayle and fellow Caribbean Johnson Charles took the matter in their hands.
It enabled Mashrafee to win BPL title in four out of five occasions with three different franchises. But Mashrafee was not satisfied being a mere captain in the tournament and played a very active role in Rangpur’s progress.
He finished the tournament with 15 wickets in 14 matches with an economy rate of 6.74 while he scored 131 runs in nine innings with a strike rate of 152.32.
Mashrafee also put up an outstanding effort in the field throughout the tournament and gave an idea of his fitness as he bowled 55 overs in the tournament, much higher than any other bowler in the tournament.
‘Why won’t I play Twenty20 leagues?’ Mashrafee told reporters in the post-match press conference after Rangpur’s crushing 57-run win over Dhaka Dynamites in the final.
‘I definitely have the ability to play BPL. I will obviously play Dhaka Premier League, BPL these kinds of tournaments,’ he said.
Mashrafee thought it was important for him to play Twenty20 in order to keep him in the practice.
‘You see, I am now playing only in one format. So practice is important for me. If I don’t find a way to continue practice then definitely it would be very difficult for me to play one-day international cricket.
‘So whenever I get some opportunities, like I played two four-day matches before I went to South Africa, I want to give my best in every match I play,’ he added.
Mashrafee, however, ruled out his chance of making a comeback from retirement in the international Twenty20s and played down the suggestion that he gave it all in BPL in order to prove his ability in the format.
‘To be honest, I never thought of my comeback. I did not have such kind of insistence and did not think about this kind of worthless thing.
‘A lot of people watch me when I’m playing as the matches are being broadcast. I cannot stay casual just because I’m not playing Twenty20 Internationals. It would be bad for our team and the youngsters would get the wrong message.
‘So I always try hard to give my 100 per cent in the field wherever I play and I’m not planning for the future anymore,’ he said.
Mashrafee thanked his luck for winning BPL four out of five occasions but insisted that it required a lot of hard work.
‘Obviously, the effort is important. You can’t only rely on the luck. You have to work really hard but at the end of the day if you want to be a champion then obviously your luck has to favour you,’ he said.
Source: New Age.