Bangladesh ODI skipper Mahsrafe Mortaza surprised his fans when he took the field sporting a jersey which was numbered ‘0’ during the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match between Rangpur Riders against Rajshahi Kings.
Speaking about the same, Mortaza said that he got the inspiration from former South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs who had donned the jersey that had ’00’ as the number.
“I was inspired by an interview of Gibbs that I read a few days back,” Mortaza was saying as quoted by Cricbuzz. “There it was stated ‘start from zero again’ and honestly it was quite motivating.”
“Initially I wore 20 and then later decided to keep the first part and began wearing 2. Now I am going back to the second part to complete the circle,” he said.
Never give up remains the mantra
Mortaza was a part of the Bangladesh side that suffered a 0-3 ODI series defeat against South Africa recently. Things are absolutely rock bottom for Bangladesh cricket at the moment, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have the power of getting right back up.
“As a professional, I cannot look back and hold on to it,” Mortaza talked about the recent series defeat.
“Today is a good day, tomorrow might be a bad one. We need to work so that we can make sure day after tomorrow is better. How focused we are is important (more) than anything else. What I specifically want to do and achieve is (also) important. As a professional you will have good and bad times.
“You need to take everything into your stride and make that count in the long run,” Mortaza added.
In BPL 2017, Rangpur Riders won their opening match against Rajshahi Kings. The Mortaza-led side next take on Chittagong Vikings on November 8.
