How Bangladesh’s Nafees Iqbal bonded with Rohit Sharma’s wife Ritika Sajdeh

Mustafizur Rahman was a part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). But in the team setup, there was another person from Bangladesh, namely Nafees Iqbal, who is the brother of Tamim Iqbal. Nafees was there in the IPL as Mustafizur’s translator. During his stay, he also had interactions with skipper Rohit Sharma and his wife Ritika Sajdeh.

The 34-year-old Nafees used to stay in the dugout and there he talked to the players and Ritika. In fact, Rohit, earlier, told that the secret behind Ritika and Nafees’ bonding was french-fries. The Chittagong-born Nafees now said that during their meetings in the dugout, he bonded with Ritika.

Rohit talked to me plenty of times: Nafees Iqbal   

“For work, I always used to be with the team. But during a match, a specific number of staff can be there in the dugout, which is the case even in BPL. So, I used to get the ticket for the games. In the gallery, family members of the players also used to be there,” Nafees was quoted as saying during a live chat with BDcrictime.

“Not only Rohit’s wife, there were spouses of a number of other cricketers as well. Kieron Pollard’s family was there. We bonded into a strong group. Rohit used to respect me a lot. Since he is the captain, I used to work more with him.

“For understanding Mustafizur, he interacted with me plenty of times. Even with Hardik Pandya and others, I have a healthy relationship,” Nafees added. Mustafizur went on to play seven matches that season, picking up as many wickets.

Last month, the 33-year-old Rohit had a live chat on Facebook with Tamim, who was recently appointed as Bangladesh’s ODI skipper after Mashrafe Mortaza stepped away. There, both had interactions about Rohit and Ritika’s camaraderie with Nafees.

As far as Nafees’ career is concerned, he made his debut for Bangladesh as a teenager in 2004. But his career halted in March 2006. In 11 Tests and 16 ODIs, he managed 518 and 309 runs respectively with one century and four fifties.

He was also a part of the Bangladesh team, which beat Australia in 2005 at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. Nafees could score only eight, but Mohammad Ashraful’s century took the Tigers over the finishing line.