Bangladesh cricket captain Mashrafe Mortaza wins in general elections by massive margin

Dhaka, Dec 31: Bangladesh's one-day cricket captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is one among the several Awami League (AL) candidates who won the December 30 general election and he said after winning that his responsibilities have vastly increased following his win as a parliamentarian.

Speaking to the media at Narail in Khulna district on Monday, December 31, Mortaza said he was overwhelmed by the way people voted for him and it added to his responsibilities. Thirty-five-year-old Mortaza has been a big name of Bangladesh's cricket and has over 250 wickets in 202 ODI games.

Mortaza, who contested from Narail-2 seat, had a landslide victory by polling over 2 lakh voters while his opponent of the National Unity Front Fariduzzaman Farhad received less than 8,000 votes.

"We have to prepare ourselves for people's expectations. We have to focus on issues like health, education and agriculture. We have to give importance to issues that people are struggling with daily. More than individual problems, collective issues will be more dealt with," Mortaza was quoted as saying by Bangladesh media.

Mashrafe, who is now focusing on the BPL starting January 5, said he would try as hard as a people's representative as he did as a player. He also said that alcoholism is a big problem in current times and stressed on connecting the young generation more with sports.