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Bangladesh replace Mushfiqur Rahim with Mashrafe Mortaza as ODI captain

Image: Mushfiqur Rahim: No longer Bangladesh's one-day captain

Mushfiqur Rahim has been sacked as Bangladesh’s one-day international captain and replaced by paceman Mashrafe Mortaza.

However, Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan has announced that wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur will continue to lead the Test side.

"Mushfiq (Rahim) is our best batsman at the moment. At the same time he also needs to lead the team and do the wicketkeeping job. This is a tremendous pressure for him," said Nazmul.

"So we relieved him of some of his duties. Mashrafe will now lead the one-day international side and Mushfiq will continue as the Test captain."

Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan have been appointed vice-captain for the Test and ODI sides respectively.

The decision follows Bangladesh's return from a disastrous tour of the West Indies where they lost all their completed contests against their hosts in both Test matches and ODIs.

Mashrafe has been put in charge only for the five-match home ODI series against Zimbabwe, who will arrive in late October for a tour which will also include three Tests.

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"You all know Mashrafe is an injury-prone player, so we cannot set a long-term plan with him. If he stays fit we will think about giving him captaincy for the World Cup 2015," said Nazmul.

Mashrafe has not played a Test match since 2009 when he was injured during a Test series against West Indies.

He is, however, a regular in ODI and Twenty20 formats barring a few injury-related breaks.

The 31-year-old led Bangladesh in two Twenty20 Internationals against Sri Lanka earlier this year.

Mushfiqur was appointed captain in 2011 after a tour of Zimbabwe and has led Bangladesh in 16 Tests, 37 ODIs and 23 Twenty20 Internationals.

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