Mash unlikely for Test

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is unlikely to lead the team in the second and final Test against West Indies, which will start tomorrow at the National Stadium in Grenada.
Bangladesh captain underwent an MRI exam of his injured right knee on Tuesday afternoon in Grenada.
The initial report suggests he has muscle stress in the knee, not a ligament tear as feared earlier but he has to wait for an expert opinion from Australia as the team management sentthe MRI report to orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Young in Melbourne. The final decision on his return to action would be taken after the word from Young who treated the leading paceman on previous occasions.
The ‘Narail Express’, who took over as captain from Mohammad Ashraful last month, made a memorable debut as captain as under his leadership Bangladesh recorded their first-ever away Test victory with a 95-run win against makeshift West Indies in St. Vincent.
But unfortunately he had to watch his team’s fight-back in the last two days from the dressing room due to injury. The leading paceman, who has been hit by a series of knee and back injuries since his Test debut in 2001, injured his knee while bowling on the third day of the first Test and pace bowler Nazmul Hossain has reached Grenada as back up for Mortaza for the second and final Test against the West Indies.
Vice-captain Shakib Al Hasan handled the team encouragingly for the last two days as a stand-in captain and the world’s number one all-rounder is an obvious alternative to lead the team in the second Test if Mashrafe finally fails to make his return.
Shakib’s courageous decision to bring former skipper and part-time spinner Mohammad Ashraful in the crucial stage of the match paid of brilliantly as he got the vital breakthrough and he was praised because of the way he put pressure on the opponent batsmen in their defense of a 277-run target.
On the other hand he kept his cool as the number one spinner in the team to expose the Caribbean batsmen.
The team may not suffer for Mashrafe’s captaincy but his presence is always inspirational for the team. The team definitely will not only miss Mashrafe’s bowling but also his batting as he played a face-saving 39 in the otherwise dismal batting of his team in the first innings.

Courtesy of The Daily Star