Mashrafe Mortaza pledges friendship and invites England players to Bangladesh
With England’s forthcoming tour of Bangladesh in jeopardy, Mashrafe Mortaza has requested his opponents to travel to the country and hoped for a deeper friendship between the two teams if the series goes ahead.
Bangladesh’s limited-overs skipper met with reporters at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur and invoked the example of France hosting the European Championship in the aftermath of a spate of terrorist attacks.
Mortaza enthused, “I would tell all the players to come to Bangladesh. I can assure you that you can play cricket here wholeheartedly. You don't have to think of anything else. It will be a competitive series. Our friendship will get deeper if we play in this series. It is not just about the game. There are a lot of things connected to this series.”
He added, “We are hoping that they would come here to play. From what I have heard, our security forces are giving it the highest attention. I have confidence in them since we have hosted many big tournaments in the recent past.“
Even though they have been scheduled to play three ODIs and two Tests in October, the prevailing security situation in Bangladesh has forced the ECB to send a special delegation in order to ascertain whether the tour can take place.
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Mortaza felt, “As a player, I would urge for cricket to continue. These incidents are happening all over the world and if we postpone playing now, there will be a time when we would have to stop the game. There were attacks in France and still the Euros was held there. We all have to keep our faith on the ECB team that visited recently as well as the two boards.”
Taking heart from England participating in this year’s U-19 World Cup which was held in Bangladesh even as Australia pulled out at the eleventh hour, he expected another positive response from the ECB.
The 32-year old noted, “If some of the players have a friendly relationship, they may knock each other. But, these things are mainly dealt by the boards on whom we have to depend upon. I believe that the ECB is taking it very seriously and they will be satisfied with our security plan. They sent their team to the U19 World Cup. England has been with us from day one and I believe they will be with us now as well.”