Mashrafe collects nomination form

Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza yesterday collected a nomination form from the Awami League to contest the upcoming general election from his home district of Narail.

Mashrafe, arguably the most popular cricketer in the country, bought the form for Narail-2, a constituency where Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, district president of Workers Party of Bangladesh, is the current lawmaker.

Before collecting the form, Mashrafe sought blessings from Prime Minister and AL's President Sheikh Hasina.

He went to the Gono Bhaban around 11:30am, an official of the PM's press wing told The Daily Star.

Coming out of the PM's residence, Mashrafe went to the AL president's Dhanmondi office around 1:30pm and received the form from party General Secretary Obaidul Quader.

Later, Quader told reporters that although Mashrafe was involved in politics, it would not impact his cricket career. 

On Saturday, an official of Quader's road transport and bridges ministry said national team cricketers -- Mashrafe and Shakib Al Hasan -- would buy AL nomination forms today to take part in the upcoming general election from Narail and Magura respectively.

Later, Shakib, skipper of Bangladesh Test and T20, backtracked on his decision.

Quader yesterday told reporters that Hasina advised Shakib not to participate in the upcoming parliamentary election and give full attention to cricket.

She asked Shakib to pay more attention to cricket as the World Cup would be held next year, Quader quoted Hasina as saying.

Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza collects a nomination form from Awami League’s Dhanmondi office on Sunday, November 11, 2018 to contest the upcoming 11th parliamentary election with Awami League ticket from Narail-2 constituency. Photo: Collected