It could have been one of the happiest days for Mashrafee bin Murtaza in his life after Bangladesh had a superb win against New Zealand on his home debut as captain and that on his 27th birthday.
But Mashrafee went to bed, still grimacing, as he sprained his right ankle while attempting the first delivery of his second over in New Zealand innings and thereby became uncertain for the reminder of the series.
The skipper was kept under observation for 48 hours and only then a further investigation would be conducted to decide if he could take any further part in the series.
The consolation came in the form of a nail-biting nine-run win, thanks to his deputy Sakib al Hasan, and being unmindful of his personal grief Mashrafee joined the celebration.
‘Really, this is the nicest birthday gift for me. I have forgotten all my pains now,’ said Mashrafee, who came to the post-match press conference, limping, with a crutch in his hand.
‘It will take at least 48 hours for me to realise what really happened to me. I had twisted my ankle twice in the past and came back. But this time the swelling is big, so I don’t know anything really.’
Injury-prone Mashrafee had twisted his ankle first during a match against West Indies in the World Cup 2003 and again suffered the same injury on Sri Lanka tour in 2005 when he returned home without playing a game.
He, however, thanked Allah that the injury did not happen in his knees which had needed several surgeries in the past. His most recent injury was also in the knees when he fell in his follow-through on captaincy debut in a Test match against West Indies in July 2009.
It kept him sidelined for at least eight months and needed him two surgeries before he made a comeback in February. He, however, required almost one year for recovery and to return to his full fitness.
Given the manner he fell down in this match, it raised a doubt if he will be able to lead Bangladesh in the World Cup. But Mashrafee refused to think that far and felt bad only because he failed to make any effective contribution to the win.
‘I was feeling bad as I could not make any contribution. But still we won the match and that’s most important thing. Sakib did a brilliant job as a captain and also he bowled very well,’ he said.
‘At one stage I thought maybe we were 12 to 20 runs short as we wanted to give them a target of around 250 runs. But they have made the score a winning total.
‘We had a bitter experience against Sri Lanka when we restricted them to 151 runs and still lost the game. So I was never sure. But at the end of the day, it was a superb victory for us,’ he said.
Mashrafee played down the suggestion that Bangladesh got some advantage after the match was curtailed due to the rain.
‘It was part of the game. We still could lose the game. But they were under pressure after losing two quick wickets before rain intervened,’ he said.
