Mash and Ash - the coming together

Mohammad Ashraful, who was banned for five years for his involvement in match and spot-fixing in the BPL, today returned to the scene where it all started going bad for him as he is featuring in the opening fixture of the BPL for Chittagong Vikings. He was not shy in his first appearance after the ban as he became involved in a comical scene with none other than Bangladesh ODI captain and Rangpur Riders skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza -- a newly elected MP for Bangladesh.

The diminutive right-hander came to the crease at the fall of the first wicket to face the Rangpur skipper who had just gotten the wicket of Cameron Delport in the fourth delivery of the over. What followed can be termed as a dash and smash or perhaps a Mash and Ash coming together.

Ashraful played the Mashrafe delivery towards third man and then ran straight as an arrow towards the other end with the Rangpur skipper going back to his run-up mark unaware of what was happening behind him. Ashraful, hilariously so, proceeded to run straight at Mashrafe and barged into the Rangpur captain to general astonishment and cheers from the ground.

Mashrafe, not one to miss out on the odd bit of humour that BPL avails, welcomed Ashraful with a cheeky kick on the backside which the latter tried to evade. The two former teammates enjoyed a light moment in the very first match of this year's BPL.

Ashraful's tenure at the crease did not last long however as he fell to Shafiul Islam in the next over.

Earlier, Rangpur were bowled out for just 98 with Ravi Bopara's 44 enabling the defending champions to put on a fighting total on the board after they slumped to 7 for 35.