Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is one of the greatest Bangladeshi cricketers. He has been an international cricketer for over a decade for Bangladesh. Mashrafe Mortaza is the current captain of the One Day Internationals for Bangladesh National Cricket Team.
He was also the former captain of T20 international captain. However, he retired from T20 internationals in 2017. He started playing for the national side in 2001 against Zimbabwe. He appeared into the nation without playing a single first-class match.
Mashrafe Mortaza led the national side in one Test and seven One Day Internationals between 2009 and 2010. However, frequent injuries always wrested his position out of the team multiple times. For this reason, Shakib Al-Hasan was appointed as the captain in his absence.
Due to his fast bowling prowess, Mashrafe Mortaza used to be considered one of the fastest bowlers playing for the national side. In the 2000s, he consistently bowled around 140s km/h. He still regularly opens the bowling attack for the country.
Mortaza’s International Career has been constantly under the threat of the injuries he’s susceptible to. He had undergone a total of ten surgeries on his knees and ankles. Mortaza called it quits from Test cricket in 2009.
He said that his constant back injuries were responsible for early retirement. Although he continued to play short formats of the game, T20I, and ODI, he retired from T20Is as well. On April 06, 2017; Mortaza announced his decision to retire from Twenty Twenty Internationals.
Personal Life
Mashrafe Mortaza was born in the district of Narail. Narail is in south-west Bangladesh. During his childhood, Mortaza played football and badminton. He also said that he used to go swimming in the nearby river.
The river that was in the vicinity of his hometown was the River Chitra. He said he used to skip school just to go swimming in the River Chitra. He wanted to continue his study. For this reason, he enrolled in the Department of Philosophy at Jahangirnagar University.
He enrolled in the 2003-04 session for his bachelor’s degree.
Mashrafee Mortaza also expresses his keen interest in motorcycling from time to time. His friends and teammates describe him as an open-minded and animated character. He is a popular family man as well. He is usually known by his family member as their “Prince of Hearts”.
Mortaza met with his wife Sumona Haque Shumi whom he married in 2006. The couple has a daughter and a son. The name of the daughter is Humaira. And, the son’s name is Sahil.
Mashrafe Mortaza at a Glance
- Full name: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza
- Birthdate: October 5, 1983,
- Birthplace: Norail, Jessore, Bangladesh
- Height: 6 feet 1 inch
- Batting style: Right-handed
- Bowling style: Right-arm fast medium
- Spouse: Sumona Haque Shumi
- Religion: Islam
- Zodiac sign: Libra
- Profession: Cricketer, Medium Fast Bowler (Bangladesh)
- Role: Bowler and Bangladesh Cricket Captain
- Mashrafe Mortaza Net Worth: US $1.2 Million
- Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Official.Mashrafe
Injury Issues
Mashrafe Mortaza started experiencing issues in the back after the Test series against Zimbabwe. In January 2002, Mash missed the series against Pakistan due to the persistent back issues. While recovering, Mortaza again got subject to a knee injury.
He, again, required an operation. As a result, he went out of the side once again for eight months.
A batch of 8 operations has been applied on the knees of Mashrafe. According to the cricket analyst, no other cricket players of this world have been through such numbers of injuries in their life and still playing cricket for the country.
Success & Achievements
One Day international matches Records
Highest 9th wicket partnership for Bangladesh, 97 with Shakib Al Hasan v Pakistan, on 16th April 2007.
Most catches for Bangladesh (50) by the non-wicket keeper.
The highest batting strike rate of any Bangladesh team’s players facing 1,000 balls or more (89.000.
Best bowling figures by a Bangladesh player, 6 wickets by 26 runs against Kenya.
Test Matches Records
Highest 9 th wicket partnership for Bangladesh, 77 runs with Shahadat Hossain v India, on 18 th May 2007.
Highest batting rate of Bangladesh team’s players facing 1,000 balls or more (67.20).
BPL Records
3 Times Champion Crest holder in the total BPL era.
Quick Facts on Mashrafee bin Mortaza
- Mashrafe abstains from smoke and does not drink alcohol.
- As a young boy, he loved playing football and badminton, but he was more interested in cricket.
- When playing in the BPL, once he was approached to fix matches.
- Once Mashrafe was deactivated his official Facebook Fan page, that’s because abusive comments were left on an uploaded photo by team-mate Nasir Hossain.
- Mashrafe was once purchased by the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL, but Mashrafe played only 1 match for the team.
- In 2009, owing to his frequent injuries, he decided not to play Test cricket match again and decided to prolong his limited-overs career.
- Mashrafe’s Test debut was also his First-Class debut, which made him among the first person or player ever in the history of cricket to do so.
- Bangladesh achieved their first victory against India in 2014, owing to Mashrafe’s bowling spell and 31 not out, for this performance he was rewarded with the Man of the Match Award.
- In 2007 World cup, Bangladesh knocked-out Indian team in Port-of- Spain where Mashrafe was
- Adjudged the Man of the Match Award for his great performance as 4 wickets for 38 runs.
Bottom Line
Mashrafe Mortaza is undoubtedly one of the greatest Bangladeshi cricketers of all time. His contribution to Bangladesh Cricket will be greatly appreciated.
