Sachin Tendulkar carried the hopes and dreams of a nation on
his shoulders; Brian Lara carried the batting unit of the Windies on his
shoulders; One can say Mashrafe Mortaza is carrying Bangladesh on his knees.
Imagine Sachin; you know his mannerism while taking guard. Kohli; twirls the bat in hand. Say Dhoni; everyone
knows what he does with his gloves ball after ball. Sanath Jayasuriya:
Tak..tak..tik..tak.. carves the crease....What Mortaza does? Well, he bends
down and adjusts the strapping in his knees as he heads to his bowling mark.
How Mortaza enters the arena? Broad-chested; head held high;
‘I believe in myself and my boys’ attitude and often in the face of the opposition.
You know who is in charge on the ground.
If there was one man in that Bangladesh dressing room who could
have even dreamt of having a dash at a fiery Mohammad Amir, it had to be Mortaza.
Even as the likes of Soumya Sarkar, Shakib, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur decided
to play it safe, Mortaza felt otherwise.
He knew if Bangladesh were to win, someone had to take on Amir.
And he knew fortune favours the brave. First ball, clear the front foot and
whack down the ground. Fortune favours the brave. Mohammad Sami lets one go
through to the fence.
Amir runs in ever so hard and bangs one. Fortune favours the
brave. The ball kisses the edge of Mortaza’s blade and flies down to fine leg
for four. And the foot faults of Sami saved Mortaza and Bangladesh to spark wild
celebrations.
Rewind to 2009. An on a high Mortaza, of KKR, had his hands on
his knees when Rohit Sharma, of Deccan Chargers, pummelled 21 runs in one over and
probably shut the IPL career of the current Bangladesh skipper. Then he
suffered a string of knee injuries which laid him and subsequently the Bangla
tigers low.
Forward to 2015 World Cup. ‘Underdogs’ Bangladesh led by Mortaza
were up against the might of the eventual World Champions Aussies in Brisbane. Nine
out of ten times, Australia would have crushed the Bangla boys. However,
Brisbane weather turned out to be a Bris‘boon’ for Bangladesh and a no result
meant the men in green were in contention for their maiden knock-outs birth.
England it was. A Mahmudullah-special gave Bangladesh a hope.
But Mortaza was struggling, not for form, but with his knees. He knew he could
ill afford to limp out of the ground. He limped to covers, limped to his mark, stretched
with enormous difficulty every time the ball was hit towards him.
And Alex Hales was taking England to a position of strength.
A limping Mortaza adjusted his strapped knees and headed to the start of his
run up. Ran in and seconds after sending down the ball, Mortaza erupted,
sprinted in joy as Hales edged one to Rahim. The pain vanished and Bangla made
the last eight.
“You have to bear the pain if you want to perform for your
country. But the pain goes away when you do well and the team wins ... like
against England.” These words underline the character of the man.
From being part of a team that knew the word win only if the
opposition were Zimbabwe to leading Bangladesh to series wins against Pakistan,
India and South Africa...with strapped knees on most days....is a phenomenal achievement
from Mortaza.
Over the last 18 months, Bangladesh have benefitted
immensely in the shorter formats from the all-round brilliance of Shakib, the improving
technician in Mushfiqur, the belligerence of Tamim and Sarkar, the go-to-man in
Mahmudullah and the X-factor in Mustafizur Rahman.
However, it’s Mortaza who has carried them on his knees.
