Mashrafe Mortaza

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (Bengali: মাশরাফি বিন মর্তুজা pronunciation   (help·info)  ; (born 5 October 1983) is a Bangladeshi international cricketer, current captain of the One Day Internationals for the Bangladesh national cricket team and member of the parliament Jatiya Sangsad from Narail-2. He also captained Bangladesh in Twenty20 Internationals. He broke into the national side in late 2001 against Zimbabwe and represented Bangladesh before having played a single first-class match. Mortaza captained his country in one Test and seven One Day Internationals (ODIs) between 2009 and 2010, however injury meant he was in and out of the side and Shakib Al Hasan was appointed captain in Mortaza's absence. Mortaza used to be considered one of the fastest bowlers produced by Bangladesh, previously bowling in the mid-135s-145s km/h in the 2000s,[4] and regularly opens the bowling. He is a useful lower-middle order batsman, with a first-class century and three Test half centuries to his name. Mortaza's career has been hampered by injuries and he has undergone a total of ten operations on his knees and ankles.

Mortaza took temporary exemption from Test cricket in 2009 due to continuous back injuries for indefinite time and have not played any test match since but continued to play in shorter formats. On 4 April 2017, he announced his intentions to retire from T20Is. He retired from all T20Is on 6 April 2017.[5] In December 2018, during Bangladesh's series against the West Indies, Mortaza played in his 200th ODI match. This includes two matches for the Asia XI team.[6] In the same series, he became the first cricketer to play 200 ODIs for Bangladesh[7]and set the record of captaining Bangladesh in most number of ODIs with seventy matches surpassing Habibul Bashar.[7]

Although he had never been involved in politics during his cricket career, Mortaza collected an MP nomination form for 2018 Bangladeshi general election on 11 November 2018 under Awami League's banner.[8] In December 2018, he won a seat in parliament, with 96% of the votes in his constituency, Narail-2.[9]