‘There were lies in the dressing room’ – Mashrafe Mortaza alleges against defamation during players’ strike last year

Mashrafe Mortaza, the former Bangladesh captain, has lashed out and threw allegations of defamation during the player’s strike last year on October 21. The veteran said that attempts of degrading his image were made in front of the junior players. In the strike that took just before the tour of India, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah and a number of players were present.

They were accompanied by a number of youngsters. However, the fact that Mashrafe wasn’t present there raised a lot of eyebrows. Mashrafe felt ignored after he was left out despite being the skipper of the Tigers back then. The Tigers players put forth a 11-point demand lost in front of the national board.

I had a conversation with Tamim the very next night: Mashrafe Mortaza

“The situation was very difficult for me. The day they demanded 11 points, there should have been 12 points. The 12th line should have been, we did not call Mashrafe in this movement. Because I was not retired yet, I was also the captain. Naturally, people will ask where Mashrafe is,” Mortaza was quoted as saying in CricFrenzy.

Mashrafe didn’t forget to express his anguish in front of Tamim Iqbal, the current ODI captain. “I had a conversation with Tamim the very next night after the movement. I told him that you guys should have a demand of 12 points because you guys left me in an awkward situation,” he stated.

“There were lies in the dressing room. The juniors have been told that Mashrafe MP, he will not come. Mashrafe is in the ruling government party, which is why he will not come. Was it an anti-government movement? There was no need to defame me in front of junior players,” the Narail Express added.

Mashrafe said that after he wasn’t invited, he had to released a statement without even consulting the Bangladesh players. The strike didn’t last long and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the cricketers came to terms. During the strike, even Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wanted Mashrafe to step in and resolved the matter.

A couple of months ago, Mashrafe returned to international cricket against Zimbabwe. During the series, he also gave up captaincy after which Tamim got the role.