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.
Mortaza is one of the most successful pace bowlers to have emerged from Bangladesh. The pace and aggression Mortaza 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, Mortaza was drafted into the Bangladesh A team.
After one match for Bangladesh A (to date his only Bangladesh A match), Mortaza made his Test debut on 8 November 2001 against Zimbabwe in the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. Khaled Mahmud also debuted in the match, which was curtailed by rain and ended in a draw. Mortaza opened the bowling with Mohammad Manjural Islam and took 4 wickets for 106 runs (also written as 4/106) as Zimbabwe did not bat a second time. His first, also known as “maiden”, Test wicket was that of Grant Flower. Unusually the match was also Mortaza’s maiden first-class match; he was the 31st person to have achieved this, and the third since 1899. Mortaza also made his first appearance for Bangladesh’s one day team on 23 November 2001 along with fellow debutants Fahim Muntasir and Tushar Imran. Opening the bowling with Mohammad Sharif, Mortaza finished with figures of 2/26 from 8.2 overs as Zimbabwe won the match by five wickets.
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-145s-148s km/h in the 2000s, and regularly opened the bowling
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is one of the most successful pace bowlers to have emerged from Bangladesh. The pace and aggression Mortaza 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, Mortaza was drafted into the Bangladesh A team.After one match for Bangladesh A (to date his only Bangladesh A match), Mortaza made his Test debut on 8 November 2001 against Zimbabwe in the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. Khaled Mahmud also debuted in the match, which was curtailed by rain and ended in a draw. Mortaza opened the bowling with Mohammad Manjural Islam and took 4 wickets for 106 runs (also written as 4/106) as Zimbabwe did not bat a second time. His first, also known as “maiden”, Test wicket was that of Grant Flower. Unusually the match was also Mortaza’s maiden first-class match; he was the 31st person to have achieved this, and the third since 1899. Mortaza also made his first appearance for Bangladesh’s one day team on 23 November 2001 along with fellow debutants Fahim Muntasir and Tushar Imran. Opening the bowling with Mohammad Sharif, Mortaza finished with figures of 2/26 from 8.2 overs as Zimbabwe won the match by five wickets.
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-145s-148s km/h in the 2000s, and regularly opened the bowling.
Though Mortaza has not retired from Test cricket, he was forced to quit playing Test matches after he injured his right leg while captaining the side for the first time in 2009 against West Indies. Since then, he has not represented his country in any test matches. Considering his injuries and several surgeries, BCB has not allowed him to play in the longer format. Though Mortaza hasn’t officially declared his retirement from ODI cricket, he is currently not playing regularly for Bangladesh and hasn’t named in the squads in recent series against West Indies and New Zealand. On June 5, 2021, during his interview with a cricket news website, Mortaza went on to reveal that the Bangladesh Cricket Board was rushing to bid him farewell and forced him to retire.
In February 2019, he has become member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Youth and Sports Ministry of the eleventh Jatiya Sangsad. Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is also the youth and sports secretary of Bangladesh Awami League since December 2022.