BPL 2017: Inspired by Herschelle Gibbs, Mashrafe Mortaza dons jersey No. 0

Debutant Shardul Thakur was recently admonished by social media users for sporting Sachin Tendulkar’s jersey No. 10. Upon asking, Thakur revealed he had sought assistance from an astrologer for the same. During the practice session ahead of the three-match ODI series against New Zealand, Thakur wore a different jersey — No. 54.

Something similar was witnessed during BPL 2017-18. Inspired by Herschelle Gibbs, Mashrafe Mortaza sported jersey No. 0 as he led Rangpur Riders to the middle. Gibbs had sported the jersey with a motto ‘starting from scratch’. Mortaza, who started his international career wearing No. 20 jersey, had ‘migrated’ to No. 2 sometime ago. Mortaza now opines that the change to No. 0 signifies completion of a circle. Here are excerpts from his chat with Cricbuzz.

On donning jersey No. 0: I was inspired by an interview of Gibbs that I read a few days back. There it was stated ‘start from zero again’ and honestly it was quite motivating. Initially I wore 20 and then later decided to keep the first part and began wearing 2. Now I am going back to the second part to complete the circle.

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A new beginning? Bangladesh had a forgettable series in South Africa. They were whitewashed across formats — in 2 Tests, 2 ODIs and 3 T20Is. Mortaza was at helm of affairs during the 3-0 ODI whitewash. A rather philosophical Mortaza added: “As a professional I cannot look back and hold on to it. Today is a good day; tomorrow might be a bad one. We need to work so that we can make sure day after tomorrow is better. How focused we are, is important (more) than anything else. What I specifically want to do and achieve is [also] important. As a professional you will have good and bad times. You need to take everything into your stride and make that count in the long run.”