His reliability, respect within the team and an ability to draw the line during media interactions make Mashrafe Mortaza a good candidate for Bangladesh’s ODI captain
Mohammad Isam01-Oct-2014Mashrafe Mortaza’s appointment as Bangladesh captain for the five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe in November can easily be slammed as a late, reactionary decision that has come after the team had slumped beyond recognition. Closer to the truth, however, is the fact that the BCB has chosen a respected figure and a largely reliable character, despite his fitness issues. This is more of a last-ditch effort to restore confidence in the team’s most favoured format.Mushfiqur Rahim might wonder whether he will have another chance to rectify his blotched CV as a captain, but the winless streak of 13 matches in ODIs was a problem that pointed to the team’s dynamics first, then the captaincy. Now that the latter has been found faulty, there has been a change in leadership with the hope of a fresh mind. The easier choice could have been to opt for Shakib Al Hasan, who was a close contender, but his recent controversies – including suspensions for misbehaviour and for making an inappropriate gesture – made him a second option.Instead, Mashrafe, one of the last bastions of this battered team, has been put in charge. He could have given up at least 11 times – the number of major surgeries he has had on his body hip-down – but he stood up straight despite the frequent injuries. Mashrafe has missed 106 ODIs and 44 Tests since his debut in 2001 but his time as a Bangladesh cricketer has mostly been controversy-free.Over the last 13 years, he has stayed away from making strong comments. It stems from his modesty as an individual though he is prone to striking back at times. When he had returned from a long lay-off in early 2010, he left the team hotel after feeling “unwanted” among his team-mates. Earlier this year, when a journalist had, as part of a question in a press conference, called Bangladesh’s 2012 win over India an “upset”, he did not seem keen on the particular word. But he knows where to draw the line, a quality much needed by the BCB.Mashrafe’s captaincy will also invigorate his team-mates and push them to newer places from time to time. This was evident when Bangladesh pushed Sri Lanka right down to the wire in two T20s under his captaincy at the start of the year, particularly in the second game in Chittagong when the home side had to defend 120 runs. Mashrafe’s bowling changes were rapid and random, unhindered by any particular set plan that has usually come out of Bangladeshi dressing-rooms.He was unafraid to use a newcomer, left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny, as an opening bowler; he switched bowlers seemingly at will but, mostly, a new one was present every time a Sri Lankan wicket fell. There was heavy dew that evening and there, too, he used his experience as a seamer, bowling the pacers – himself, Rubel Hossain and Farhad Reza – more than the spinners in tight situations.The visitors slumped to 50 for 6 in the 12th over, after which Kumar Sangakkara and Thisara Perera brought them back in contention. Sri Lanka needed two off the final ball, and Mashrafe told Reza to bowl a bouncer to Sachithra Senanayake. The zany move didn’t pay off because of the bowler’s military-medium pace and the softer ball stood up quite nicely for a pull shot, which was duly hit. Mashrafe, to his credit, did not hide from admitting that he had instructed Reza before the final ball.On the other hand, Mashrafe is also part of the same dressing-room that regularly brings out ultra-conservative strategies and use of skill, designed only for damage control: bowling left-arm spinners to right-handed batsmen and off-spinners to left-handers; invariably sending a left-handed or right-handed batsman according to the opposition spinner in the attack at the time (knowing full well that the opposition captain can change the bowling too); slipping to the eight-batsmen strategy even in ODIs only to contain the opposition; bowling poorly to a new batsman and at the death, and making knee-jerk selection calls in the playing XI.It remains to be seen how Mashrafe’s own form will play out in his time as captain. During his captaincy, Mushfiqur’s batting undoubtedly took strides in ODIs, with an improved average, a strike-rate that rose from 66 to 77, a slightly better 50 to 100 conversion rate and ultimately a more central role as a batsman. With Tamim Iqbal out of form for much of the year, and Shakib Al Hasan facing suspension, Mushfiqur was the only reliable batsman in the side. He did not just have to restore parity to a batting order at risk of a collapse, he was also its anchor and chief hitter in the later overs. Moreover, he has been Bangladesh’s wicketkeeper for most of the last seven years, though his standards in that skill have dropped of late.Mashrafe, meanwhile, uses seam and conditions better as a bowler now, benefiting from the two new balls in ODI cricket these days. His pace has slowed considerably but he showed, in favourable conditions at home in June against India and on a couple of occasions in the West Indies last month, that he can still bowl quickly and keep beating the bat.Mashrafe Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan will take on the roles of captain and vice-captain again, like they did in 2009•BCBThe question-mark in his bowling has always been his inability to cut down runs in the last ten overs of an innings. Though Bangladesh cannot boast of a specialist bowler who concedes less than six an over during the last ten overs of an ODI, Mashrafe’s economy-rate of 7.57 has always made fans nervous, particularly after he starts the innings well.The other major factor considered when giving him the captaincy was his injury-prone body. His first stint as full-time captain ended when he injured himself while bowling in his first Test in charge in 2009 against West Indies. When he was given back the reins after more than a year, he lasted only seven matches.A twisted ankle kept him out of cricket for a few months and, with Shakib leading by example, he was not considered for the role again. Coincidentally, and perhaps due to the strange ebb and flow of Bangladesh cricket, Shakib is his deputy once again, as was the case when they were first appointed Bangladesh’s captain and vice-captain in mid-2009, following Mohammad Ashraful’s meltdown in Nottingham.Mashrafe has often struck one as a man who wants to move forward. This time, with only five matches and a dangling carrot of leading the team to the 2015 World Cup, he doesn’t quite have any other direction. He will simply have to be careful while wildly diving to stop a defensive prod, lest he injure himself again.
