Former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has decided to keep himself out of the national cricket team contract resulting him in losing the monthly wage of at least $5000. But he has insisted that he will continue to play as long as he is enjoying the game.
“Till yesterday, I was a centrally contracted cricketer with the cricket board but not anymore,” IANS quoted Mortaza as saying in a press conference via ESPNCricinfo.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan told the reporters that the board has accepted Mortaza’s proposal. Considering his status as a legend, the president also said that the board offered him a massive retirement party, “the likes of which has never happened and never will”.
However, Mortaza has denied that as well and said, “I always believe the BCB is the cricketers’ guardian. I never took pride in going against them. I thank the BCB for considering me to give me a proper send-off, but I don’t have much interest in it.”
The 36-year-old, meanwhile, has welcomed the BCB’s decision to increase Test match fees and split the players’ contract into Test and limited-overs saying it will change the scenario of red-ball cricket in the country.
“I think it is a really good decision but the better decision was to do the split between red and white-ball players. Those who are playing all three formats should get more salary than the ones who play one or two formats.
“Even, the salary should be better for those who give more emphasis to Tests. It might change our scenario of Test cricket. It will certainly raise the players’ spirit, giving them more incentive to play Tests,” he said.
The revised contracts will see a Test cricketer in Bangladesh earning BDT 600,000. While the match fees of ODI and T20I are BDT 300,000 and BDT 200,000 respectively.