Mystery behind Mash’s number ‘Zero’

Mashrafe's choice of jersey number zero caught the eye of the cricket fans in yesterday's Bangladesh Premier League encounter between Rajshahi Kings and Rangpur Riders.

Quirks regarding choice of jersey number are not new to cricket -- Chris Gayle, who is also going to play for Mashrafe-led Rangpur, once wore the number 333 on his back. It was meant as a tribute to his highest score in Test cricket, which he struck against Sri Lanka.

South Africa's dashing former opener Herschelle Gibbs famously used the double zeroes (00) in his South Africa Jersey. He also had a tradition of wearing jersey numbers in correspondence to the last two digits of the year.

Mashrafe unveiled his mystery about using the number zero by saying that he was inspired to take up the number after reading a Herschelle Gibbs interview. The Proteas cricketer had suggested that the '00' was meant to signify a 'new beginning'.

In a press conference, Bangladesh's inspirational captain said: "There were two reasons behind the choice of number 0. Recently I read the interview from Herschelle Gibbs about starting over from zero.

"I started out with the number 20. Then I dropped the 0 and took number 2. Now I have dropped the 2 and taken the 0. It's like the completion of a loop for me."

For Mashrafe this signifies a new beginning and the end of the previous one. He inspired the Rangpur Riders to victory against Rajshahi yesterday with a sly spell where he conceded just 18 from four overs and took one wicket.