Full house crowd send-off Mashrafe on last match as captain

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SYLHET, March 6, 2020 (BSS) – The passion was palpable as the fans came in abundance at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium to witness the last match of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza as captain.

With the match, the era of Mashrafe has come to an end. Even though he vows
to play as a general player, there is no guarantee if his current form and
the growing age prompts that the team management much to include him in the
team.

But as Mashrafe said, it would be his last match as captain, the cricket-
frenzied people came here to give their captain a standing ovation for one
last time.

From what it was seen, the stands of the stadium were jam-packed for the
third and final ODI of the series, which Bangladesh has already clinched by
winning the first two matches.

The first two matches, however, couldn’t draw enough people’s attention as
the stadium were seen half-empty, vastly because that everyone knows Zimbabwe
would be easy prey for Bangladesh.

However that, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza playing his last game as Bangladesh ODI
captain was the chief reason behind the spectators flowing into the stadium.
Even a large number of people came from Dhaka also to send-off the captain.

In fact the rich legacy of the captain has come to an end with the match.

The crowd started gathering outside the stadium in the early hours of
Friday morning to collect tickets and watch the historic match.

Mashrafe, however, also stands on the brink of leading the side for the
50th time, something what no Bangladeshi captain could achieve.

“The game is the last one for Mashrafe as captain. There was no way I
could miss it. I want to be the part of the history. With luck permits, one-
day I will tell my next generation what it was like to send-off Mashrafe on
his last match as captain,” said a Bangladesh supporter, coming from Dhaka to
watch the match.

Mashrafe, popularly dubbed as “Narail Express” stunned the whole country as
he decided to step down as ODI captain.

The decision was the ending of the saga that started following Bangladesh
and Mashrafe’s below-par performance in the 2019 World Cup in England.