Mashrafe Bin Mortaza suggests Bangladesh Under-19 World Cup squad to play natural game

Bangladesh One-day International (ODI) skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza met the Under-19 squad which is scheduled to fly to New Zealand on December 26.

Mortaza, who featured in 182 ODIs revealed he told the promising players to enjoy the game and play it ‘freely’ while adding the pressure would not be an ideal option.

“It’s best not to give them the pressure of playing the semi-finals or winning the World Cup. I told them to play free cricket,” Mashrafe was quoted as saying by bdcrictime.

Mortaza has spoken to the members of the Bangladesh U-19 squad at Mirpur in the capital city Dhaka while explaining the players should work on the positives.

“I have told them to stay mentally strong because the weather and conditions will be against our favour,” Mortaza maintained.

(Read Also: Bangladesh Names 32-man Squad for the Upcoming Home Season)

Moreover, the 34-year-old Jessore-born fast bowler, Mortaza has a quality experience on his back while reflecting the pressure comes to the one on its own, but believes the optimistic approach would play a significant role in team’s favour.

“It’s normal. This happens to us when our national team tours there,” Mortaza asserted.

It’s important to point out that Saif Hassan will be leading the youth Tigers. In 2016, Hassan alongside batsman Gosh was the part of 2016 World Cup.

Owing to the piece of advice, Mortaza further reiterated the youngsters are supposed to play the game according to the merit and work hard to yield the desired results in the gentleman’s game.

Bangladesh will kick off their U-19 World Cup campaign against Namibia at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln.

It’s pertinent to mention that, the tournament will run through January 13 and February 13 as 48 50-over fixtures will be played across the month.

Interestingly, Bangladesh team is placed in the Group C, as U-19 England and U-19 Canada are also listed in the same group.

The tournament will host sixteen teams with hosts New Zealand placed in the Group A.

Moreover, Mortaza played 54 Twenty20 Internationals and 36 Tests for Bangladesh. He bagged 352 wickets across formats after making his debut in November 2000 against Zimbabwe at Dhaka.

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In April 2017, early this year Mortaza announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International cricket when he played his last T20I against Sri Lanka at Colombo.