Full name         : Mashrafe Bin Mortaza

 Born                 : 5 October 1983, Norail, Jessore

 Current age     : 23 years  

 Major teams    : Bangladesh, Asia XI

 Nick Name       : Koushik

 Batting style    : Right-hand bat

 Bowling style   : Right-arm fast-medium





Mashrafe Mortaza is, without any doubt, the leading pacer of Bangladesh. Young, quick and aggressive, Mashrafe Mortaza has emerged as the leader of Bangladesh's pack of upcoming young pacemen. He was discovered in a pacer hunt program, from Norail, Jossore. Right then, people who saw him had no doubt that he was a star in the making. That is why he is one of the rarest kinds who had their test debuts before playing any other type of first class cricket. To justify this arrogant decision, he took 4 wickets in that match and came up with the best bowling figure.

His bowling speed is just short of a fast bowler, but he covers it up with smart thinking and swing. He is tall, strong and aggressive. His batting is no joke either. In fact, his ODI strike rate is a surprising 97.88, the best of the country. His slogging is a joy to watch as he can send the cherry out of the park in a blink of an eye.





He excelled in the second Test against England in 2003-04, taking 4 for 60 in the first innings to keep Bangladesh in touch, but suffered a twisted knee towards the end of the game that kept him out of Tests for over a year. He was recalled towards the end of 2004, and subsequently enhanced his reputation on the inaugural tour of England, standing head and shoulders above his team-mates in a torrid series. He is not a complete mug with the bat. A persistent back injury caused him to return home early and miss the Test series in Sri Lanka in September 2005 - the sixth time he had failed to last throughout a tour - but he was back to face the Australians in April 2006, and removed Matthew Hayden early on to start the Aussies' embarrassment in the first Test at Fatullah. Mortaza broke Aftab Ahmed's national record when he took 6 for 26 to seal a 3-0 win in the one-day series against Kenya in August 2006.

He never seems to be out of form, and had a match winning all round performance on this comeback series to ensure the first ever win for the Tigers on the home ground against India. He holds tigers best bowling figure of 6/26. Also, he has own the man of the match award maximum number of times for any Bangladeshis, three of them coming at a row against Kenya where he also won the man of the series award.