Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (born 5 October 1983), popularly known as the Narail Express, is a Bangladeshi politician and former cricketer who captained in all three formats of the game for the Bangladesh national cricket team and a former Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Narail-2 constituency during 2019–2024. He is widely regarded as the most successful captain for the Bangladesh cricket team.
He started this test debut against Zimbabwe in 2001. He impressed Andy Roberts, who was then coaching Bangladesh and was drafted into the Test team - in his debut first-class game. In 2006, Mashrafe was the world's highest wicket-taker in ODIs, collecting 49 wickets in total. He was the Man-of-the-match in the match against India in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. He took four wickets that game and knocked out India from the group stage. Mashrafe was picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders for $600,000 in IPL 2009. Mashrafe debuted as a captain after the 2009 T20 World Cup, where he captained Bangladesh against West Indies and Zimbabwe and won both them but it led him to an ankle injury and forced him to hand over the captaincy duties to Shakib Al Hasan later. He suffered a tear in his knee ligament after that. This forced him to miss the 2011 Cricket World Cup. After overcoming his injuries, Mashrafe took his position back in the squad after 4 years and captained Bangladesh to the 2015 Cricket World Cup, where they were able to reach the quarterfinals for the first time. After getting knocked out by India at the quarterfinals in the World Cup, Mashrafe led his team back to back ODI series wins against Pakistan (3–0), India (2–1) and then world cup runners-up New Zealand (3–2) at home for the first time in their cricket history. It eventually made them a dominant ODI team in their home grounds. These results sealed a place for Bangladesh in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy for the first time, where they finished off as semifinalists. His captaincy led Bangladesh Team to become the runners-up of the Asia Cup for two consecutive years (2016, 2018) but lost to India in both. Throughout his career, Mashrafe has played a pivotal role in Bangladesh's rise as a competitive cricketing nation.
Mashrafe won the first edition of Bangladesh Premier League as a captain in 2012 with Dhaka Gladiators. He joined Comilla Victorians in 2015 and won their first BPL title. He also won the 2017 Bangladesh Premier League for third time as captain with Rangpur Riders, making him the most successful player at the tournament as a captain.
Mashrafe was ranked as one of the most famous athletes in the world on ESPN World Fame 100 in 2019. According to Antiguan first-class cricketer Andy Roberts, Mashrafe is the most talented cricketer in Bangladesh. He became only the fifth bowler in history to take 100 ODI wickets as a captain. Mashrafe is also the first pace bowler in Bangladesh who bowled a delivery clocking over 147 km/h, which he did during a Test against New Zealand at Hamilton in 2001. Mashrafe's career has been hampered by fifteen injuries as he has undergone a total of ten operations on his knees and ankles. On 6 March 2020, Mashrafe, at the age of 37, announced his retirement from national team captaincy by playing the last match of the ODI series against Zimbabwe.
He was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2009 Indian Premier League auction, with an estimated amount of US$ 600,000. He played just one match being not out with 2 runs and giving 58 runs of 4 overs.
Due to his international commitments, Mashrafe has infrequently played for Khulna Division in Bangladesh's domestic cricket competitions.
While he has represented Bangladesh 36 times in Tests and in 100 ODIs between 2001 and 2005 he played only 11 first-class and 9 list A matches for Khulna Division in the same period.
In March 2018, Mashrafe took four wickets in four balls bowling for Abahani Limited against Agrani Bank Cricket Club in the 2017–18 Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League. He took his first List A hat-trick and became the first Bangladeshi bowler to take four wickets in four balls in List A cricket. He finished the 2017–18 Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League as the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, with 39 dismissals in 16 matches.
In 2012 he joined the Dhaka Gladiators and 2015 from Comilla Victorians in the newly formed Bangladesh Premier League twenty20 competition and captained them to the tournament title and led Comilla Victorians clinch the title of the third Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as well as champion of 2017 Bangladesh Premier League fourth time as captain.In October 2018, he was named in the squad for the Rangpur Riders team, following the draft for the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League. He was the leading wicket-taker for the team in the tournament, with 22 dismissals in 14 matches. In November 2019, he was selected to play for the Dhaka Platoon in the 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League. In the 9th edition of BPL which took place in 2023, he captained Sylhet Strikers and helped them reach the BPL final for the first time.
Mashrafe was selected for play for Gemcon Khulna in Bangabandu T20 Cup 2020. In the tournament's eliminator, he took his first five-wicket haul in T20s.
Mashrafe is one of the most successful pace bowlers to have emerged from Bangladesh. The pace and aggression Mashrafe displayed as an under-19 player impressed Andy Roberts, the former West Indian fast bowler, who was acting as a temporary bowling coach for Bangladesh. Under Roberts' recommendation, Mashrafe was drafted into the Bangladesh A team.
After one match for Bangladesh A (to date his only Bangladesh A match), Mashrafe made his Test debut on 8 November 2001 against Zimbabwe in the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. Khaled Mahmud also debuted in the match, which was curtailed by rain and ended in a draw. Mashrafe opened the bowling with Mohammad Manjural Islam and took 4 wickets for 106 runs (also written as 4/106) as Zimbabwe did not bat a second time. His first, also known as "maiden", Test wicket was that of Grant Flower. Unusually the match was also Mashrafe's maiden first-class match; he was the 31st person to have achieved this, and the third since 1899. Mashrafe also made his first appearance for Bangladesh's one day team on 23 November 2001 along with fellow debutants Fahim Muntasir and Tushar Imran. Opening the bowling with Mohammad Sharif, Mashrafe finished with figures of 2/26 from 8.2 overs as Zimbabwe won the match by five wickets.
He broke into the national team in late 2001 against Zimbabwe and represented Bangladesh before having played a single first-class match. Mashrafe captained his country in one Test and seven One Day Internationals (ODIs) between 2009 and 2010, however, injury meant he was in and out of the team and Shakib Al Hasan was appointed captain in Mashrafe's absence. Mashrafe used to be considered one of the fastest bowlers produced by Bangladesh, previously bowling in the mid-145s-148s km/h in the 2000s, and regularly opened the bowling.
After the Test series against Zimbabwe and one against New Zealand, Mashrafe missed the series against Pakistan in January 2002 as he was suffering from a back injury. While recovering, Mashrafe suffered a knee injury while skipping and required an operation. As a result, he was unable to play cricket for a further eight months. At this stage of his career, Mashrafe had played four Tests and taken 12 wickets at an average of 31.16.
Mashrafe did not return to international cricket until the 2003 World Cup in South Africa during 2003. Bangladesh failed to progress past the round-robin stage, and he played in two matches collecting two wickets at an average of 38.00.
In October and November 2003, England toured Bangladesh for two-Tests and three ODIs. In the second Test, Mashrafe took what at the time was his best Test figures of 4/60 before succumbing to injury, collapsing with a twisted knee after delivering the ball. Despite challenging England in the series, Bangladesh lost 2–0, Mashrafe finished the series with 8 wickets at an average of 21.25. As a result, he was again out of international cricket; this time for over a year. Injuries in the first three years of his international career saw Mashrafe only play 12 Tests and not more than four in a row.