Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza made a rare outburst as his self-respect was questioned at a moment when he prepares him to lead the side for a three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe.
Mashrafe has been on the headlines for wrong reasons since he led Bangladesh to an eighth place finish in the World Cup last year. His individual performance also hit the lowest ebb after taking just one wicket in eight matches.
This was the first time in his illustrious career that he has been going through such lean phase.
He was severely criticized by some group while the BCB also wants him to retire from the cricket, raising the question whether it hit his self-respect or whether he shouldn’t be ashamed.
While Mashrafe is open to accept criticism regarding his poor performance, he did not want any questions to be raised regarding his sense of self-respect.
“Self respect and to be ashamed of ? Do I steal on the ground? Am I a thief,” Mashrafe threw counter-question. “I actually cannot relate things like ‘self-respect’ or ‘being ashamed’ with playing cricket. There are many people who steal and cheat; aren’t they ashamed of what they are doing? Only I have to feel ashamed if I do not get wickets in a game? Am I a thief?,”
“I might not get wickets and you people and also my fans can criticize and talk about it. They can lambast me for my poor performance. But why would I have to be ashamed of it? Am I not playing for Bangladesh? Or am I playing for any other country that I must be ashamed of my performance? If I cannot perform then they can drop me — it is that simple,” Mashrafe concluded.
