Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (Bengali: মাশরাফী বিন মোর্তজা; born 5 October 1983), popularly known as the Narail Express, is a Bangladeshi politician and former international cricketer who captained in all three formats of the game for the Bangladesh national cricket team and currently serves as a Member of Parliament of Narail-2 district. He is widely regarded as the greatest captain for Bangladesh in ODI and T20 formats of all time.
He started this test debut against Zimbabwe in 2001. He impressed Andy Roberts, who was then coaching Bangladesh and was drafted into the Test side - in his debut first-class game . He was the 31st person to have achieved this and the third since 1899. In 2006, Mortaza was the world's highest wicket-taker in ODIs, collecting 49 wickets. He was the Man-of-the-match in the match against India in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. He took four wickets that game and knocked out India from the group stage. Mortaza was picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders for $600,000 in IPL 2009. Mortaza was appointed captain after the 2009 T20 World Cup. He was to debut as captain when Bangladesh toured West Indies and Zimbabwe, but an ankle injury forced him to hand over the captaincy duties to Shakib. He suffered a tear in his knee ligament, which forced him to miss the 2011 Cricket World Cup. After overcoming his injuries, Mashrafee captained Bangladesh to the quarter-finals of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, where they lost to India. After the 2015 World Cup, Mashrafe led his team to ODI series wins against Pakistan (3-0) and India (2-1) at home. These results sealed a place for Bangladesh in the 8-nation tournament for the first time, the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in England. In 2016, Mashrafe led Comilla Victorians to win their first BPL title in 4 years. His captaincy led Bangladesh Team to become the runners-up of the Asia Cup two consecutive times but lost to India in both.
Widely popular in his country, Mashrafe was ranked as one of the world's most famous athletes on ESPN World Fame 100 in 2019. According to Antiguan first-class cricketer Andy Roberts, Mashrafe is the most talented cricketer in Bangladesh. He became only the fifth bowler in history to take 100 ODI wickets as a captain. Mashrafe is also the first pace bowler in Bangladesh who bowled a delivery clocking over 148 km/h, which he did during a Test against New Zealand at Hamilton in 2001. Mortaza's career has been hampered by fifteen injuries as he has undergone a total of ten operations on his knees and ankles. On 6 March 2020, Mashrafe, at the age of 37, announced his retirement from international cricket by playing the last match against Zimbabwe.
Mortaza was born in the district of Narail in south-west Bangladesh. He enjoyed playing sports such as football and badminton from a young age, and sometimes went swimming in the nearby River Chitra instead of doing school work. He has been described as an open and animated character who enjoys motorcycling. He used to travel from a local bridge onto the tops of passing goods barges. He is very popular in his home town, leading to him being dubbed their "Prince of Hearts".
He completed his Secondary School Certificate (SSC) from Narail Government High School in 1999 and his Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) from Narail Victoria College in 2001
Mortaza obtained his bachelor's degree within the Department of Philosophy at the Jahangirnagar University in 2003–04. He was more interested in cricket as a youth, especially batting. In spite of this, his bowling is now his main attribute and his pace has gained him the nickname of the "Narail Express".
Once his knee had recovered, Mortaza suffered another setback when he was prevented from playing against New Zealand in February 2010 due to a fever. Mortaza made his comeback from injury in a match for Bangladesh Cricket Board XI against England during their tour of Bangladesh. Following the match, he commented that he had no interest in regaining the captaincy as in his opinion Shakib Al Hasan had done a good job. He also said that if his injury problems persisted he would contemplate retiring from Test cricket to focus on ODIs and T20s, similar to fellow fast bowlers Shane Bond, Shaun Tait, Andrew Flintoff, and Brett Lee.
Mortaza is one of the most successful pace bowlers to have emerged from Bangladesh. The pace and aggression Mortaza displayed as an under-19 player impressed Andy Roberts, the former West Indian fast bowler, who was acting as a temporary bowling coach for Bangladesh.Under Roberts' recommendation, Mortaza was drafted into the Bangladesh A team.
After one match for Bangladesh A (to date his only Bangladesh A match), Mortaza made his Test debut on 8 November 2001 against Zimbabwe in the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. Khaled Mahmud also debuted in the match, which was curtailed by rain and ended in a draw. Mortaza opened the bowling with Mohammad Manjural Islam and took 4 wickets for 106 runs (also written as 4/106) as Zimbabwe did not bat a second time. His first, also known as "maiden", Test wicket was that of Grant Flower. Unusually the match was also Mortaza's maiden first-class match; he was the 31st person to have achieved this, and the third since 1899. Mortaza also made his first appearance for Bangladesh's one day team on 23 November 2001 along with fellow debutants Fahim Muntasir and Tushar Imran. Opening the bowling with Mohammad Sharif, Mortaza finished with figures of 2/26 from 8.2 overs as Zimbabwe won the match by five wickets.
Mortaza returned from his career-threatening injury and, after impressing in Bangladesh domestic cricket, he was selected in the 13-man squad to face India in a home two-Test series during December 2004. He announced his return to Test cricket in the first Test at Dhaka by dismissing Rahul Dravid. He bowled consistently in the series and nearly dismissed Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, but catches were dropped. Cricinfo noted that in the second Test he "toiled manfully again with wretched back-up". Mortaza finished the series with five wickets at an average of 37.00, although Bangladesh lost 2–0. In the following ODI series, Mortaza played an instrumental role in Bangladesh's 16 run defeat of India in the second ODI on 26 December 2004. He was awarded the man of the match for his all-round performance—taking two wickets, two catches and scoring 31 not out. The match was Bangladesh's 100th ODI and Mortaza's first one-day cricket in 15 months. Bangladesh went on to lose the series 2–1.
Mortaza enhanced his reputation on Bangladesh's inaugural tour of England, and was the team's leading bowler, although his team lost the two-match Test series 2–0. He was by far the most economical of the Bangladeshi bowlers, conceding on average nearly half a run less per over than the next best bowler. Mortaza finished the series with four wickets at 49.50 and was the team's leading wicket taker. He consistently troubled the English batsmen, repeatedly beating the bat. A ODI tri-series followed in which Bangladesh recorded their maiden win against Australia. Mortaza's bowling was important in Bangladesh's huge upset against Australia in Cardiff, removing Adam Gilchrist for a duck and conceding 33 runs from 10 overs as Bangladesh won by five wickets. At the end of the tour, Mortaza was described as "Bangladesh's solitary cutting edge", underlining how important his bowling is to the team.
