ZCZC
BSP-16
CRICKET-MASH-FAREWELL
Not necessary to give me farewell with bouquet of flower: Mashrafe
DHAKA, Jan 10, 2020 (BSS) – If the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) plans anything to give him a befitting farewell from the cricket, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has no consent in it.
The cricketer, whose retirement issue, now grabs the headline every now and then made it clear that he doesn’t want anybody to give him a standing ovation when he plays his last game.
Mashrafe indeed doesn’t want to retire from the cricket in immediate future unless the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) forced him to do it.
After the World Cup, when Mashrafe’s retirement issue came to the fore, the BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon said that they want to give him a befitting farewell in front of the home crowd by arranging a bilateral ODI series.
The BCB then wanted to know whether he really would retire from the cricket to which the ODI captain didn’t say anything straightway, much to frustration of the board president.
Thereafter, the talks of Mashrafe’s retirement issue stopped for a while since Bangladesh haven’t had any ODI series scheduled. Bangladesh still has no immediate ODI fixture but the board has recently taken a decision to include two ODIs in the home series against Zimbabwe in February. The series was originally comprised with one Test and five T20 Internationals.
The BCB’s decision took the Mashrafe’s retirement issue to the fore again. Since BCB’s decision is being seen as a tool to force Mashrafe to retire from the cricket, the cricketer appeared to be in annoying mood, which reflected in his reply.
“I am now playing BPL. There is Dhaka Premier League also, I will play there, and I will enjoy it,” Mashrafe said.
“The thing is not that I have to play in the national team. The thing is not that you will remain as a cricket player if you only play in the national team. I don’t think that I have to give me a priority. I don’t think it is necessary. I don’t think it is necessary to give me a befitting farewell. I don’t want anybody to come with flower bouquet during my last game. The state in which I am now, I am good now. I enjoy my cricket and playing my cricket. The national team is distant matter.”
BSS/SMP/MRU/2025hrs