Dhaka: Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza returned to cricket on Wednesday ahead of the ensuing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) after being elected MP in the just-concluded national election.

Mashrafe contested the election from Narail-2 constituency with ‘Boat’ symbol and earned a landslide victory securing over 96 percent of the total votes cast in his seat, reports the UNB.

With this, he became the first current cricketer to become an MP. He is expected to lead Bangladesh team in this year’s ICC World Cup scheduled to be played in England.

The Tigers’ ODI captain joined a gym session individually at the National Cricket Academy on Wednesday.

Mashrafe, who left Dhaka for Narail on December 23 for the election campaign after leading the Tigers in a three-match ODI series against West Indies, returned to Dhaka on Tuesday to join his BPL team Rangpur Riders.    

Right arm pacer Mashrafe’s cricketing assignment begins with the BPL beginning on Saturday (Jan 5) at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka taking on Chittagong Vikings in the opener at 12:30 pm to defend the title of Rangpur Riders.

Rangpur Riders were supposed to start their first practice session on Wednesday. However, they rescheduled it for Thursday.

Mashrafe is expected to join the practice camp with Rangpur Riders after the oath-taking ceremony billed for 11am on Thursday.