DHAKA – The intensive plan to build a team for the 2023 World Cup is the prime reason for Mashrafe Bin Mortaza’s axe from ODI squad, said chief national selector Minhazul Abedin Nannu.
Mashrafe will approach towards his 40 when the next World Cup will be held in India, which is why the BCB is keen to prepare a player who will replace him.
The chief selector said that they have discussed the matter with Mashrafe before announcing the team and the pace bowling all-rounder is okay with it.
“We have immense respect for what he has done for the country over the years,” Minhazul said here today.
“But we have to be practical and move forward. We have unanimously taken this decision [to leave him out]. Decision to axe him was always tougher. I think it’s a great opportunity for him to replace him.”
He went on to say: “I have talked to Mashrafe on this elaborately. We have an open discussion regarding this. There is nothing like misunderstanding here.”
Mashrafe remains the highest wicket-taker for the country in ODI cricket with 270 wickets in 220 matches.He has also scored 1787 runs with a half-century to his name.
The lanky paceman played 36 Tests and after suffering a knee injury on the first day of the first Test against West Indies in 2009, he never came back to play the longer version format. Dubbed as the most talented pacer for the country in Test cricket, he claimed 78 wickets in this format.
He also played 54 T20 Internationals and bagged 42 wickets before retiring from this format in 2017.
Minhazul said that it’s high time to give the new players an opportunity to groom up if they want to build a strong team for the 2023 World Cup. He said it’s the main reason among others which acted as a catalyst to move on sans Mashrafe.
“There were many issues when we talked about his future. The team management had a plan and we also had a plan, As I said earlier we have taken this decision unanimously as we believe we should give the new players an opportunity if we want to groom them up for the next World Cup,” Minhazul remarked.
“We have so many matches in 2021 and so we have given a big squad. We want to test the players so that we can find out our best team for the 2023 World Cup,” he concluded.BSS
