"Let me shatter some illusions today. We are entertainers. We are not heroes. The heroes are our freedom fighters. We do not sacrifice anything for the cause of the nation. The freedom fighters did. Don't misunderstand me, cricket is not everything. What we try to do is to bring happiness to our nation."

“What do we do? If I say it very bluntly – we take money, we perform. Like a singer or an actor, we do performing art. Nothing more. The Muktijoddhad didn’t face bullets to get money on winning. Who is being compared to whom? If there are any heroes in cricket, they are Rakibul Hasans or martyrs like Jewel... Rakibul Bhai had dared to enter the cricket field with ‘Joy Bangla’ inscribed on his bat . That is big. Even bigger was his going to the front with his father’s gun. Shohid Jewel left cricket and joined the crack platoon . That is bravery. Dealing with fast-bowling has romanticism and duty, not bravery.”

“I say, those who cry ‘patriotism, patriotism’ around cricket, if all of them for one day did not drop banana skin on the streets or did not spit on the streets or obeyed traffic rules, the country would have changed. This huge energy was not wasted after cricket and was used to do one’s work honestly even for a day, that would be showing patriotism. I do not understand the definition of patriotism of these people.”

“I do not see myself as so cheap that I would judge myself on a trophy. I do not play cricket for a trophy. A trophy is very important at one stage, and I believe Inshallah one day, Bangladesh will win one. It is important because it will boost the young generation coming into cricket. So in that sense you can say Bangladesh need a trophy, but not necessarily right now. And from a personal point of view, if you judge Mashrafe based on a trophy, that is up to you, but I do not see myself as that cheap .”

“I am a cricketer but can I save a life? A doctor can. But no-one claps for the best doctor in the country. Create myths around them. They will save more lives. They are the stars. The labourers are the stars, they build the country. What have we built using cricket? Can we make even a brick using cricket? Does paddy grow on the cricket field? Those who make courtyards using bricks, make things at factories, grow crops in the fields – they are the stars.”

“I never planned ahead for anything in my life -- not for my exams, not when I had to buy clothes for an occasion -- I always do things at the last moment. So when I got the captaincy, I kept doing what I always did. I never thought about success, failure, future or past.”