Daily Times

DHAKA: Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza is set to contest the country’s 11th parliamentary election, after he received confirmation of his nomination from the ruling Awami League. He will be contesting in the Narail-2 constituency, his home district, with the polls scheduled to be held on December 30. Mashrafe wrote in Facebook post about how he has always felt strongly about politics, suggesting that the 2019 World Cup would be his last international tournament.

“I always had the impulse for politics,” Mashrafe wrote in the post. “I always believed that development in our country is not possible strongly without politics… now I have the opportunity to do something for my country. I don’t know what is awaiting me after the 2019 World Cup. I value my time and I am paying attention to it. I believe that everything has to be done at the right time.” Mashrafe also told the Bengali daily Kaler Kantho that he will only begin campaigning in Narail after the three-match ODI series against West Indies, which ends on December 14.

There have been murmurs of Mashrafe’s transition into politics since 2017, when he established the Narail Express Foundation, a non-profit social welfare venture.The foundation had helped Narail residents get scholarships as well as medical discounts in a Dhaka-based university, and has set up drinking water jars around Narail town, mainly for rickshaw-pullers. It’s quite rare for active international cricketers to enter politics, with Sanath Jayasuriya being one of them in recent times to have done so when he ran for public office in the 2010 Sri Lanka general elections.

Published in Daily Times, November 27^th 2018.