Mushfiqur happy to help successor Mashrafe

MushfiqurMashrafe

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur was stood down as captain of the ODI side as the Bangladesh Cricket Board decided to split the Test and one-day captaincy as an experiment ahead of next year's World Cup.

Mashrafe is the man tasked with taking over the leadership role from Mushfiqur, with his first challenge coming in a five-match series with Zimbabwe, beginning in Chittagong.

Mushfiqur successfully led the Test side to a 3-0 series clean sweep that ended with a 186-run victory in the final meeting.

And it appears old habits die hard for Mushfiqur, who revealed he almost started planning for the upcoming ODI clashes.

"After the first one-day game maybe the realisation [of not leading the side] will come," he told the Dhaka Tribune.

"Generally I try to make a plan early and stay a week ahead with my homework. I was about to do something like that this time as well but then I realised that I am not the captain.

"If I play as a keeper, obviously if Mashrafe wants I can help from there."

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will want to put a chastening Test series behind them as they look to recreate the form that saw them defeat Australia by three wickets in the 50-over format back in August.

Sikandar Raza, who made three half-centuries and averaged over 40 in the three Test matches, sees the upcoming ODI fixtures as a chance to put the 3-0 whitewash behind them.

"I think we will give the ODIs our best shot," he said.

"Having learnt so much after the 3-0, I think we can use this and play better in the ODI series.

"Bangladesh is looking to take their graph higher and we will be looking to take ours as well. Even though the first Test got finished in three days, it was close.

"The second session it was close even in the third Test. A 3-0 score doesn't justify how we played, but we will love to get better results in the one-dayers."

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