Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh’s ODI captain, had a mighty scare when he was rushed to hospital on Saturday (August 5) after he coughed up blood, much to the worry of his family members who were panicked with the unfortunate turn of events.
According to a report in bdcrictime.com, the fast-bowler’s health was not ‘positive’ for the past two days and he was scheduled for a check-up. But, the coughing of blood on Saturday forced his family to take him to hospital early. However, the checkup did not reveal anything unusual and was not admitted to the hospital after being declared fit.
Debashish Chowdhury, the official doctor of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), also confirmed that Bangladesh star was absolutely fine.
“There is nothing serious happened to Mashrafe. He coughed up some blood in the morning and that’s why he went to hospital for checkup. His lungs has been checked and everything is fine now. He won’t have to be admitted in hospital,” he said
Mortaza, who retired from T2oI earlier this year, recently led the Tigers to their maiden ICC Champions Trophy semifinal. But despite guiding Bangladesh to its first semifinal of any ICC tournament, there were speculations that he would be replaced as the skipper. However, BCB president Nazmul Hassan insisted that Mortaza would continue to lead the side as long as he wants.
“Mashrafe is not just a player but also our captain,” Hassan had said last month. “It is nearly impossible to find a captain like him in Bangladesh. He is also performing very well as a pace bowler, better than most of them.
“Look, it is natural to think about replacing cricketers like Shakib and Mushfiqur, but the situation that is being created somehow shows that we are trying to remove Mashrafe today. It is uncomfortable for him and us too. I am saying this clearly: there is no question of dropping him as long as he is willing to play,” he had added.
Bangladesh, meanwhile, are currently preparing for their first bilateral series against Australia at home in 11 years. The team will play two Test matches against the team from Down Under in Dhaka and Chittagong.