6 best fast bowling captains of all time 

#3 Mashrafe Mortaza

Mashrafe Mortaza

Commonly known as ‘Narail Express’, Mashrafe Mortaza was the first real quick bowler to come out of Bangladesh. He had a nice, strong action which helped him generate uncomfortable bounce. Mortaza’s strengths are hitting the deck hard, getting appreciable seam movement and surprising the batsmen with his sheer pace. But constant injuries have plagued his career.

He became captain for the first time in 2009 where he led Bangladesh to only their second Test victory and their first overseas Test win (in West Indies). That was the only game where Mortaza captained the Test team as constant injuries never allowed him to play another Test in his career. But he returned to captain the one-day in 2010 before injuries and poor form led to his axing before the 2011 World Cup.

But, when he took over a struggling Bangladesh ODI side in 2014, he was bold and strong as what followed was truly remarkable. Bangladesh started producing results they were capable of. Reaching the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup, clean sweeping Pakistan, and series wins over India and South Africa in three consecutive home series apart from beating New Zealand and Zimbabwe. Again, this year in the Champions Trophy, he led Bangladesh to their first ever ICC-event semi-final.

In 43 ODIs, he’s led his side to victory in 26 of those, being the only skipper from Bangladesh to have a win percentage of more than 50 (60.46%). With 232 wickets, Mortaza is still Bangladesh’s leading wicket-taker in ODIs and is still going strong in the only format he plays (ODIs).