'Be safe' - Mashrafe Mortaza urges people in Bangladesh to stay home amid the Coronavirus debacle

For a generation of cricketers in Bangladesh, Mashrafe Mortaza go down as one of the icons of the country. The former Bangladesh captain has led his side from the front ever since he was given captaincy back in 2014. And things changed in the Bangladesh cricket. The team qualified for the knockout stages of a world cup for the first time in the following year. After that Bangladesh went on to win ODI series against Pakistan, South Africa and India.

Recently, Mashrafe Mortaza stood down from the captaincy role of the Bangladesh ODI team. A farewell series against Zimbabwe was organised to give a tribute to the ‘National Hero’. Mortaza has decided to continue playing international cricket if given chances to play only as a specialist bowler.

Mashrafe Mortaza urges youngmen to stay safe and stay at their home

Mortaza is not only an icon in Bangladesh but also an elected MP. He decided to share a message with his fans in Bangladesh and help them get over from the threat of Coronavirus. He posted a very strong message for his countrymen on a Facebook post. The post read, “Ekhon joubon jar, bashay thakar tar sreshtho somoy. Be safe. Be at home.” It means, now is the best time for the young men to stay at their home.

The words of the post are taken from a famous poem written by Helal Hafiz. The line of the poem goes like, “Ekhon joubon jar, michile jawar sreshtho somoy tar. Ekhon joubon jar, juddhe jawar sreshtho somoy tar”. This actually translates to ‘Now is the best time for the young man to go to the procession. Now is the best time for a young man to go to war.’

In the wake of the coronavirus, Mortaza first tried to keep his fans in Bangladesh alert about the situation of the world via his Facebook profile. Recently, Bangladesh captain also posted about the things which a person has to avoid to be safe in this situation. The long post consisted of do’s and don’ts written in Bangla, the official language of Bangladesh.

Mortaza has accumulated fans across Bangladesh during his 19-year long international career. Other than being the most successful captain of Bangladesh, he is also the country most successful fast bowler by a distance. In 220 ODI matches, Mashrafe has picked up 270 wickets.