Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (; 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. In 2006, Mashrafe was the world's highest wicket-taker in ODIs, collecting 49 wickets in total. 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. Mashrafe was picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders for $600,000 in IPL 2009. Mashrafe debuted as a captain after the 2009 T20 World Cup, where he captained Bangladesh against West Indies and Zimbabwe and won both them by a huge margin. But an ankle injury forced him to hand over the captaincy duties to Shakib Al Hasan later. He suffered a tear in his knee ligament after that. This forced him to miss the 2011 Cricket World Cup. After overcoming his injuries, Mashrafee took his position back in the squad after 4 years and captained Bangladesh to the 2015 Cricket World Cup, where they were able to reach the quarterfinals for the first time. After getting knocked out by India at the quaterfianls in the World Cup, Mashrafe led his team back to back ODI series wins against Pakistan (3-0), India (2-1) and then world cup runners-up New Zealand (3-2) at home for the first time in their cricket history. It eventually made them a dominant odi team in their home grounds. These results sealed a place for Bangladesh in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy for the first time, where they finished off as semifinalists. His captaincy led Bangladesh Team to become the runners-up of the Asia Cup for two consecutive years (2016, 2018) but lost to India in both. Throughout his career, Mashrafe has played a pivotal role in Bangladesh's rise as a competitive cricketing nation.
Mashrafe won the first edition of Bangladesh Premier League as a captain in 2012 with Dhaka Gladiators. Mashrafe then joined Comilla Victorians in 2015 and won their first BPL title in 4 years. He also won the 2017 Bangladesh Premier League for third time as captain with Rangpur Riders, making him the most successful player at the tournament as a captain.
Mashrafe was ranked as one of the most famous athletes in the world 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 147 km/h, which he did during a Test against New Zealand at Hamilton in 2001. Mashrafe'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 national team captaincy by playing the last match of the ODI series against Zimbabwe.
Early life
Mashrafe 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.
Mashrafe 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".
International career
Emergence
Mashrafe is one of the most successful pace bowlers to have emerged from Bangladesh. The pace and aggression Mashrafe 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, Mashrafe was drafted into the Bangladesh A team.