Mashrafe’s 15 years in cricket

On November 8, 2001, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza ‘Koushik’, a youth who had just passed his jubilant age and hailed from the locality on bank of Chitra river, made his debut in international cricket at Bangabandhu National Stadium.Then the youth is now 33 years old and has reached the milestone of passing 15 years with national team as a cricketer.

On this day of 15 years back, he was capped for Test cricket against Zimbabwe without any thinking of career. Once upon a time, the pacer set goals of getting 300 wickets in Test dreaming to be evaluated differently in the history of cricket.

Mashrafe’s fate wasn’t like his dream as injury forced him to seat sidelines for many times and went under surgery for eight times. When a bowler tries to develop bowling and to create variations, then Mashrafe had to struggle with injury.

The optimist of the optimists and leader of the leaders has turned impossible into possible playing cricket with limping in the field. Still, he is leading Bangladesh national team in limited over games but he was forced to play his last Test match in July, 2009. He made himself an inspirational captain as Bangladesh got its highest success in recent years under his leadership.

Mashrafe is the first Bangladesh player to roll through a decade and a half on the field. Akram Khan, now the chief of the BCB’s Cricket Operations Committee, had a career spanning 14 years and 187 days while another hero in Bangladesh cricket, Aminul Islam Bulbul, played for 14 years and 44 days. The incumbent chief selector Minhajul Abedin’s career stretched for 13 years and 61 days.

The cricketer has talked with Jagonews about his long 15 years career and said he has no any regret for anything in his career but the milestone of 300 wickets in Test.