'Am I a thief?' - Mashrafe Mortaza hits out at a journalist when asked if he was 'ashamed' of his bowling

It will not be an aberration to say that fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza has been one of the stalwarts of Bangladesh. Mortaza has claimed 386 wickets [78 in Tests + 266 in ODIs + 42 in T20Is] across 307 International fixtures for his country but his contributions aren’t merely restricted to his performances with the ball. 

Under his astute leadership, Bangladesh has scaled numerous heights in white-ball cricket including series wins against India, Pakistan in 2015 and qualification in the 2015 World Cup quarter-finals and 2017 Champions Trophy. But, Maahrafee’s age has caught up with him in the past 1-2 years. The fast bowler hasn’t played a game for Bangladesh since the 2019 World Cup in England.

Mashrafe Mortaza hits back at journalist 

Mortaza is back at the helm for the ODI series against Zimbabwe. And, in the pre-series press conference, he was subjected to rather obnoxious questions by the media. One of the journalists asked Mortaza whether he was ‘ashamed’ of the fact that he could manage just 8 wickets in the World Cup, something that understandably didn’t go down well with the captain.

“Self respect and to be ashamed of? Do I steal on the ground? Am I a thief? I actually can not relate things like ‘self-respect’ or ‘being ashamed’ with playing cricket. There are people who steal and cheat; aren’t they ashamed of what they are doing? Only I have to feel ashamed if I do not get wickets in a game? Am I a thief?,” said Mashrafe as quoted by India Today.

He added, “I might not get wickets and then all of your personnel and also my fans can criticize and talk about it. But why would I have to be ashamed of it? Am I not playing for Bangladesh? Or am I playing for any other country that I must be ashamed of my performance? If I can not perform then they can drop me — it is that simple,”

Zimbabwe ODI set to Mortaza’s last as captain

Meanwhile, BCB President Nazmul Hasan had made it clear that the upcoming ODI series against Zimbabwe will be Mortaza’s last set of Internationals as captain. With the BCB stressing on the use of ‘beep test’ as a parameter for selection, Nazmul revealed that post the series against Zimbabwe, Mashrafe’s selection will hinge on his form and fitness.