Mashrafe Mortaza, the current captain of the Bangladesh ODI team, has shared an emotional message for his long-time mate Shakib Al Hasan after the latter suffered a ban from professional cricket for not following the ICC guidelines of reporting the match-fixing approaches.
The whole Bangladesh cricketing fraternity is shattered after ICC’s announcement as Shakib, by a distance, was the best player of Bangladesh in all formats of the game and nobody knows how Bangladesh would cope up with his absence now.
As far as the relationship of Mortaza and Shakib is concerned, it goes a long way back. The two have been the pillars of Bangladesh cricket since Shakib made his debut in 2006.
Mashrafe Mortaza was much senior as he made it to the national team in 2001 itself, but it’s after Shakib’s arrival that Bangladesh’s fortunes started to change as he brought extraordinary skills to the table.
And, nobody knew how to use Shakib better than Mortaza. The 36-year old, who is regarded as the greatest captain in the history of Bangladesh cricket, used Shakib differently at different stages and got the best out of him with both bat and ball.
Now that Shakib is not going to be a part of any cricketing set-up for the next 12 months, Mortaza wrote on Facebook that he would struggle to sleep at nights, but he would recover quickly because he has got utmost faith in Shakib.
Mortaza also made a bold prediction in his Facebook post saying that Shakib would not only return, he would also guide Bangladesh to the final of the ODI World Cup 2023.
Here is the English translation of Mortaza’s post which was written in Bengali –
“After fighting together for 13 years, I will be sleepless for a few nights for sure after our warrior’s suspension. But after a few days, I will be able to sleep well, thinking that under his leadership itself, we will play the 2023 World Cup final. Because the name is Shakib Al Hasan.”
