Bangladesh contemplating roping in Mashrafe Mortaza as mentor of national team

Nazmul Hasan Papon, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said that he’s looking forward to Mashrafe Mortaza joining the national team in a mentoring role. As per reports, the 38-year-old Mortaza, the BCB president and Tamim Iqbal, the Tigers’ ODI skipper, had a meeting when the second Test between Bangladesh and Pakistan in Dhaka was taking place.

Having last played any form of cricket in December 2020, Mortaza is currently busy performing his tasks as the MP of the Narail 2 constituency. The veteran speedster last donned the Bangladesh colours in the home series against Zimbabwe in March 2020 where he also stepped down as their skipper.

Earlier, Tamim had said that he would welcome Mortaza with open arms if the latter gets roped in as the mentor of the Bangladesh cricket team. In the meantime, Nazmul said that the BCB is yet to send Mortaza a formal proposal, but stated that a development could take place in the future.

BCB president optimistic about Mashrafe Mortaza’s recruitment

“We haven’t discussed such a thing yet. But if he wants to join, certainly we will be happy to see him on board,” Nazmul was quoted as saying to the reporters on Saturday, December 11, Cricbuzz reported. Prior to the T20 World Cup 2021, Mortaza also lent valuable tips to the likes of Taskin Ahmed and Soumya Sarkar.

Nazmul also mentioned that he’s not overly worried with the progress of the national team that is going through a transition phase. Since their win over Papua New Guinea in the World Cup Qualifiers at Al Amerat, Bangladesh have lost 10 international matches in a row.

“The main problem is that many of our key players are not available. Even if they are available, they will retire once. We all know that. Nobody plays cricket for a lifetime. So, we have to find out their alternatives. We have to find out the best replacement by watching the options. They (the selectors and the team management) asked for three months (after the home series against Pakistan) to see who fits where, and I cannot reject that. So, a lot of things might happen in the meantime. I don’t want to disturb them now,” he added.