Who will be Bangladeshs next ODI captain after Mashrafe?
MD ABU TALHA SARKER, Dhaka
As soon as talk of captain Mashrafe Bin Mortazas possible retirement from international cricket arises, the curiosity of fans across the world regarding another question appears on the forefront: Who will then be the next Bangladesh captain in one-day cricket after Mashrafes retirement?
At the time of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup in England or after the conclusion of the 50-over extravaganza, captain Mashafe Bin Mortaza will retire from international cricket. Thats now quite obvious.
But as of now, the big question is: Who will be the No. 13 ODI captain of Team Bangladesh?
Currently, this is a hot topic of discussion, which has already started doing the rounds from table talk to TV talk shows, from Madhur Canteen at Dhaka University to political gatherings across the country.
The countrys premier all-rounder, Shakib Al Hasan, is currently the captain of the other two formats viz. Test and Twenty20. But the questions uppermost in everyones minds are: Who will be the next ODI captain of Bangladesh? And how will it be decided?
Will the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) follow its split captaincy theory after the retirement of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza or will it go back to its erstwhile single captaincy theory?
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim was the last captain of Bangladesh who helmed the team in all three formats of the game before the split captaincy theory was adopted by the BCB.
The board conferred on Shakib the Test captaincy and on Mashrafe the ODI and T20 captaincy from Mushfiqur in 2014 after its split captaincy theory came into effect.
Therefore, when Mashrafe announced his retirement from the T20 format in Sri Lanka in 2017 while Bangladesh were playing a full-fledged series against the hosts, the island nation, the board later gave the crown to Shakib after it failed to convince Mashrafe to continue his captaincy in the shorter format.
At this moment, there are four players in the team who are the seniormost: Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah Riyad. All members of the quartet have captaincy experience, more or less. And among them, Shakib is leading Bangladesh in the Test and T20 formats respectively.
Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah Riyad have not been designated captains in one-day internationals by the board. Nevertheless, they have been acting deputy captains for long. Tamim was Shakibs deputy and Mahmudullah was Mushfiqurs deputy.
The opening batsman, Tamim, captained in a Test against New Zealand in 201617. And all-rounder Mahmudullah, in 201819, captained in six Tests. Of these Tests, two each were against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in 2018, while two other Tests were against New Zealand in 2019 in the absence of regular captain Shakib Al Hasan.
Mahmudullah has enough experience to lead in the T20 format. He has captained the Tigers in no less than five T20 matches in 2018.
Those who are in the team, apart from the experienced quartet, are not ready to assume the big responsibility of being captain. But they will captain Bangladesh in the days to come. Among the current lot, Mehidy Hasan Miraj, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Liton Kumar Das and Soumya Sarkar are in line for the coveted post of future captain.
Apart from the above crop of players, there are some other experienced and senior players, but their positions in the team are not consolidated enough to enable them to compete in the race. Of them, Imrul Kayes, Rubel Hossain, Mominul Haque, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mohammad Mithun and Anamul Haque Bijoy are placed between these two groups.
