A pace odyssey

Every cricketer's dream is to lead his country, and even if you didn't seek Mashrafe Mortaza's reaction you could almost predict it - it is a dream come true. But what sets Mortaza apart is, he never had ambitions of being captain, he says. This may just be a carefully constructed persona to ensure he stands out. Or it may just be the truth - because the notion of him as captain is so unbelievable. In any case, Mortaza repeats his stand: "Believe me, I never ever harboured ambitions of being captain. I like playing under someone else."

There are two ways of seeing this. One, that the honour bestowed on Mortaza by the Bangladesh Cricket Board after removing Mohammad Ashraful has proved to be a crown of thorns. The more positive explanation goes thus: Mortaza doesn't see the captaincy as a do-or-die situation and isn't weighed down by pressure, but instead cherishes the respect and recognition attached to the job. When the responsibility has been entrusted to me, why don't I try and make an impact seems to be his attitude.

It is this attitude - a stubbornness, if you will - that helps one understand Mortaza better. Hailing from the small district town of Narail, he exploded like a meteor on to the Bangladesh cricket scene when he caught the attention of a coach, resulting in his induction at the Under-17 level. A few days later, he was steaming in during a Test match, and he looked every bit Bangladesh's best fast bowler - a spot that had practically not existed in the previous eight years.

However, the bigger challenge lay elsewhere. There have been times in his career when the meteor looked to be a falling star. The past four years have been largely injury-free but the earlier part of his career has coexisted with fitness issues, beginning with a dodgy back and problems with his knees. In fact, both his knees have been operated on four times, with the landing foot going under the knife thrice. It's a wonder, then, how Mortaza continues to be bowling fast. Perhaps it's his inherent stubbornness that helped him fight the battle against injury. If so, it's a quality that will help him when he captains the team.

Will that be enough, though? Cricket and captaincy at the international level is a whole new ball game and Mortaza's stubbornness, his refusal to quit when others have done so, may not be enough. Where will Bangladesh's players get the strength from? Theirs is a weak domestic set-up; opportunities and facilities are scarce. When they are thrust into the trying conditions of international cricket, you have to feel for them.

Ultimately, the captain is only as good as the team. The coach, Jamie Siddons, points out that captaining Bangladesh is the toughest task in international cricket. Mortaza will have no go-to bowler who will guarantee a wicket when handed the ball, nor a batsman on whom he can depend to bat out a session.

The assignment has become even tougher in recent times. The hopes and expectations of achieving the impossible have also gone up. The joke went that there was no easier task than captaining Australia and Bangladesh, for albeit polar opposite reasons: While the Australian captain knew that his team would always win, his Bangladeshi counterpart had no expectations to fulfill.

The expectations first surfaced in December 2004, when Bangladesh defeated India; the tag of "giant-killers" in ODIs has stayed on ever since. Even as Bangladesh lost 47 matches on the trot, their fans revelled in the sheer joy of international cricket. Repeated failure, though, has now resulted in impatience.

Ask Mohammad Ashraful, whose two-year stint at the top was tumultuous. Under his captaincy not only did Bangladesh defeat New Zealand and Sri Lanka in one-dayers, they played two closely fought Test series against those opponents. It seems a trifle unforgiving, then, that Ashraful was shown the door after one Twenty20 defeat to Ireland.

The BCB's stated reasoning was that it wanted Ashraful to concentrate on his batting without the pressures of leading the side. The youngest Test centurion on debut, Ashraful is perhaps associated with inconsistency, and it's easy to apply that to the captaincy as well.

Mortaza remains a huge fan of Ashraful's batting. "He is the biggest match-winner for Bangladesh. When Ashraful is on song, Bangladesh are a different team," he says. Whether cricket watchers will warm up to a changed Ashraful under Mortaza remains to be seen.

Mortaza, though he has matured, has retained his simplicity and a childish streak - neither hidden too far deep. Star power and fame don't interest him; instead, like a hyperactive teenager, he usually seems hellbent on spending his vast reserves of energy.

His impishness came through a few days before the West Indies tour, when he was visiting Narail. Covered in debdaru [a tall, bushy tree] leaves, his face dirty, he and his group of friends were wild with excitement as they went around the town one afternoon.

Will captaincy change the carefree spirit? Mortaza doesn't think so. He wants his colleagues to enjoy the game with the teenage spirit and exuberance he embodies. He has just the one wish, which he clarified at his first team meeting as captain: that everyone, whether they have the ability or not, give 100% on the field. He has promised that he will never let down a player who ensures his best performance always.

Mortaza may not have dreamt of being captain, but the significance is not alien to him. He understands that the fans, with little success to boast of, have also made them their carrier of dreams. They celebrate every success, though they mostly have cause to shed tears at defeat. As in the rest of the subcontinent, cricket in Bangladesh is not just a sport but something bigger, a way of life perhaps.

It's a point Mortaza acknowledges. "It's actually the national flag we are holding in our hands," he says. He may not feel it yet but his load is the heaviest of the lot.