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Bangladesh national cricket team is all set to start gearing up from next week for the home series against West Indies, which will begin with three-match ODI competition. Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who has never officially retired from the national side, will not be in the reckoning for a place in the side in this series, BCB president Nazmul Hassan recently hinted.
When Zimbabwe toured Bangladesh in early 2020 for a three-match ODI series, Mashrafe was the captain of the Tigers. In the last match of this series, he stepped down as the captain, and later, BCB appointed Tamim Iqbal as the new Bangladesh captain, reports UNB.
Despite stepping down as the captain, Mashrafe announced himself available as only a player. But he has only a little chance to feature in Bangladesh national team as Nazmul told a recent TV interview.
"If we take his fitness into the account, he has very little chance to get selected. But at the same time, Mashrafe loves to take challenges. So you can't say right now (whether he is going to find a palace or not)," Nazmul told the media.
"I would like to say that Mashrafe is confused about his future as a player. Till the day of his stepping down as captain, he was right. But after that, he has been going through confusion and he's still confused. So I think his chances are dim," he added.
The West Indies are expected to arrive in Bangladesh on January 10. After a three-day in-room quarantine, they'll be allowed to participate in intra-squad practice sessions. In the meantime, they'll have to undergo a few Covid-19 tests.
The first two ODIs of the series will take place in Dhaka, while the third ODI and first Test will be played in Chattogram, and later, both the teams will come back to Dhaka to play the second and final Test.