Sakib clears the air

Bangla-desh captain Sakib al Hasan spoke out for the time on Thursday and cleared the air about the controversy over Mashrafe bin Murtaza’s non-inclusion in the squad saying that he had no sour relationship with the pacer.
It all started when Mashrafee had left the team hotel apparently being angered after he was rested for the second one-day match in Dhaka and thus strained his relationship with coach Jamie Siddons and skipper Sakib al Hasan.
Their relationship took a further twist when Mashrafee was preparing to travel to Chittagong only for Sakib to oppose the move. He had told the officials that he did not need any additional player and on hearing this Mashrafee decided to stay back at home.
Sakib defended his move on Thursday at the Chittagong divisional stadium and said he did nothing wrong as Mashrafee had breached team discipline by not showing up for the second match.
‘It is nothing personal between us. He did not turn up at the team’s practice session ahead of the second match and breached the discipline. So as a captain of the side I can easily oppose his inclusion for the next match,’ Sakib told reporters.
Sakib, however, claimed that he had spoken to Mashrafee after the development and cleared the air. The all-rounder was also optimistic that it will not have any negative effect on the team.
‘I phoned him and he also rang me, though initially none of us could receive the calls. Later I phoned him again and requested him not to pay any heed to what people are saying,’ he said.
‘We know what we mean for each other. And also we know what our relationship is. When I started my career he taught me a lot because he always treats me as a younger bother. I also treat him as an elder bother and this relationship will never change,’ he said.
‘And this was what we discussed. I told him if we remain in the right, it doesn’t matter who said what.
One thing everybody should know is that our relationship has not deteriorated,’ he said.
Sakib also admitted that Mashrafee was very much in their plans for the third match, but everything has changed only after he decided to leave the team hotel before the second match.
Coach Jamie Siddons also echoed the same views and said he would have liked Mashrafee to be in Chittagong.
Mashrafee’s initial complaint was against Siddons as the player did not like the attitude the coach showed towards him and felt he was completely unwanted He was also unhappy with Siddons’ comments on his decision to skip the New Zealand tour.
Siddons had allegedly told the players that Mashrafee was afraid to travel to New Zealand and that his fever was just an excuse. While speaking to reporters at the Chittagong divisional stadium, Siddons said, ‘I had no idea about his fever. I thought he had a flue or a sore throat and in Australia I have seen if someone had a fever, he needed at least a week or two to recover. But Mashrafee recovered sooner than expected. Maybe the people in Bangladesh are stronger than the Australians,’ he said.
Siddons said he did not feel it was necessary for him to discuss with Mashrafee before resting him for the second match. Mashrafee was stiff and sore and was asking for a pain killer during practice ahead of the second one-day match and it prompted him to rest the pacer, said Siddons.
Siddons did not hide the fact he was unhappy with Mashrafee’s fielding in the first match. ‘We had the best fielding side in two years in the second match with no Mash, Junaed, Rasel and Nazmul,’ said Siddons, revealing Bangladesh’s weaknesses on the field.
Siddons said he wanted to speak to Mashrafee after all those reports and but failed. ‘I finally sent him a text and asked him to join practice on March 7,’ he said.
The Australian said he has already briefed the players not to pay any attention to media reports regarding Mashrafee. Sakib added that manager Shafiqul Haque Heera also had a similar briefing before Thursday’s practice session.

Courtesy of NewAgebd