Mashrafe Mortaza

Mashrafe Mortaza is a right arm fast medium bowler and a right handed batsman with the Bangladesh cricket team. He has also played with the Asia XI and the Khulna division cricket teams.

Mortaza made his first class cricket debut in 2001. The same year he also made his test debut against Zimbabwe in Dhaka. Mortaza claimed an impressive 4 wickets in 32 overs while maintaining an economy of 3.31 runs per over in the first innings. The match resulted in a draw due to rains. Later, in a One Day International against Zimbabwe the same year, Mortaza made his ODI debut. He continued his performance with the ball and claimed 2 wickets in 8.2 overs with an economy of 3.12 per over. Zimbabwe however won the match by 5 wickets and 46 balls remaining.

Mortaza was also part of the 2003 World Cup Bangladesh team. In 2004, when Bangladesh defeated India in a One Day match, Mortaza was named Man of the Match. Though Mortaza didn't had a good record with the bat, he can be a hard hitter of the ball. He proved this when he played against India in the 2nd ODI in Dhaka, hitting four successive sixes. Mortaza was made vice- captain of the Bangladesh team in 2007 and was part of the World Cup 2007 Bangladesh team.

In a total of 89 ODI’s, Mortaza has 112 wickets to his name with an economy of 4.72 per over. He also has 947 runs with a strike rate of 87.28. In test cricket, Mortaza has claimed 66 wickets with an economy of 3.28 runs per over in a total of 29 matches.

=== Career Highlights ===

Man of the Match, against India, 2004.