India, Dec. 3 -- Mashrafe Mortaza, who has not been playing the shortest format at the international level to focus on ODI cricket, will have a lot to prove in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). He has far too many injuries considering he is a fast bowler at the age of 36. The BPL will be his opportunity to prove his fitness as he has not played any competitive cricket since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
It is no surprise that he has been performing incredibly well in the BPL over the years and is currently the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament. He has 73 wickets in 74 matches playing for the Comilla, Dhaka and Rangpur franchises. In the 2019-20 edition, he will be captaining the three-time champions and runners up in the last two editions, the Dhaka Platoons. They also have the likes of Shahid Afridi, Thisara Perera and Tamim Iqbal to help Mortaza lead the side.
His role as a fast bowler will be equally crucial for the side as the Platoons only have two specialist seamers apart from Mortaza. Wahab Riaz is a senior craftsman from Pakistan and Hasan Mahmud is a local player who has not played a lot of competitive cricket at recognizable levels. They also have three seaming all-rounders in Thisara Perera, Ariful Haque and Laurie Evans. However, the onus will be on their skipper to ensure that the Platoons rank high on the BPL Points Table.
It is difficult to say whether the 36-year-old will be at his best in the tournament. He had a poor World Cup in England, where he could pick just one wicket in 8 matches. Since then, he has not appeared in any of the international games for Bangladesh or in their premier domestic First-class tournament, the National Cricket League.
If we take a positive look at this, the break will have done a lot of good for the pacer who will be back with a lot of rest to his body and can be at his best throughout the season. Some fast bowlers need to be rested in order to be bowling at their best and some of them need to be in rhythm to ensure a good physical condition. Mortaza is definitely of the former kind and maybe a long break was all he needed to get back in form. He will certainly be the one to watch out for as he can be extremely economical when he is bowling well and create the pressure for others to pick up wickets in heaps.
According to the BPL Schedule for the 2019-20 edition, Mashrafe Mortaza will lead the Dhaka Platoons in their opening encounter against Rajshahi Royals on 12 December 2019.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Sports Column.