mashrafe mortaza, bangladesh cricket
Bangladesh cricketer Mashrafe Mortaza celebrates after taking a wicketMartin Hunter/Getty

Bangladesh star cricketer Mashrafe Mortaza is 34 at the moment, but he swears strictly by this saying: "You're never too old to start over". Currently leading the Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2017, Mortaza has reflected this philosophy in his jersey number.

Everyone was kind of surprised and stumped when the Rangpur Riders captain donned the jersey with "00" at the back. Fans are familiar with seeing the Bangladesh ODI skipper don the No. 2 jersey. Why this sudden change, one might ask.

Former South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs is to be blamed for the sudden dose of inspiration Mortaza is receiving! Starting from scratch, i.e, from zero, remains the mantra of motivation for Gibbs, and Mortaza is intrigued by that philosophy.

"I was inspired by an interview of Gibbs that I read a few days back," Mortaza was quoted as saying.

"There it was stated 'start from zero again' and honestly it was quite motivating.

"Initially I wore 20 and then later decided to keep the first part and began wearing 2. Now I am going back to the second part to complete the circle," he said.

Never give up remains the mantra

Mortaza was a part of the Bangladesh side that suffered a 0-3 ODI series defeat against South Africa recently. Things are absolutely rockbottom for Bangladesh cricket at the moment, but that doesn't mean you don't have the power of getting right back up.

"As a professional I cannot look back and hold on to it," Mortaza talked about the recent series defeat.

"Today is a good day, tomorrow might be a bad one. We need to work so that we can make sure day after tomorrow is better. How focused we are is important (more) than anything else. What I specifically want to do and achieve is (also) important. As a professional you will have good and bad times.

"You need to take everything into your stride and make that count in the long run," Mortaza added.

In BPL 2017, Rangpur Riders won their opening match against Rajshahi Kings. The Mortaza-led side next take on Chittagong Vikings on November 8.

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