Mashrafe gifts Bangladesh cricket team’s jersey to Martinez
The faces of his two children floated in Mashrafe Bin Mortaza’s mind when he first received the proposal. He knew that Emiliano Martinez was coming to Bangladesh. But he never imagined that he would get a chance to meet him like this.
On Monday morning, the Argentine football star Martinez landed in Dhaka. When digital business group FundedNext, the organisation that is hosting the Argentine World Cup winner’s the 11-hour visit to Bangladesh, gave Mashrafe the proposal, Mashrafe first thought of his daughter Humayra and son Sayel. Just like Mashrafe, his two children are also die-hard fans of Argentina.
So, Mashrafe took Humayra and Sayel with him to the FundedNext’s office in Pragati Sarani on Monday morning to meet Martinez. He took pictures of Martinez with his children, also gifted the Argentine star a Bangladesh cricket team jersey.
When Mashrafe arrived at the FundedNext office, the company’s top officials were taking Martinez’s interview. After the interview, a top official of FundedNext and the state minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak introduced Mashrafe to Martinez. Then he gave a tour of the FundedNext office to the Argentine star.
Mashrafe and Martinez spoke for a few minutes. Mashrafe had this to say about the experience, “After the interview, Palak bhai introduced me to him and said that I am the former captain of the national cricket team. Martinez then said, cricket is really popular in Bangladesh. I said cricket is the No.1 sport, but the people of this country also love football a lot”
Mashrafe and his two children are die-hard fans of the Argentina team. During the World Cup, Mashrafe posted many photos and videos of him and his children wearing the Argentina jersey. Mashrafe told that to Martinez as well, “I told him that I’m a fan of Argentina. I showed him a video of mine, told him that in Bangladesh, Argentina is really popular and have legions of fans.”
Mashrafe’s children collected autographs from Martinez, took selfies and photos with him. Mashrafe’s daughter Humayra gifted Martinez a jersey of the Bangladesh cricket team worn by her father.
Mashrafe is really glad that he could take his children to meet Martinez, “Both of them are crazy for Argentina. They saw them win the World Cup. They couldn’t sleep for two nights. I rushed to there for their sake. I met him, took pictures of my children with him. He also took selfies with my kids… What more could I ask for!”