Mashrafe Bin Mortaza made a sudden return to the capital yesterday to visit his ailing mother.

The Bangladesh vice-captain who left Dhaka for Kolkata on Thursday evening reached Mumbai the same night to shoot a commercial for Pepsi as part of promotion for the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup in England. Prior to flying home the paceman also attended a press conference in Kolkata yesterday.

Mashrafe informed The Daily Star that he was yet to sign his contract with the Kolkata Knight Riders. He flies back to Kolkata this afternoon from where he will set off for South Africa along with other members of the team. He is expected to put pen to paper upon his arrival in Cape Town, the base camp of Knight Riders for the billion-dollar event.

"I am home on a very short visit just to see my mother and there is nothing else. I will return to Kolkata tomorrow afternoon and will fly to South Africa the same day to sign the deal," said Mashrafe over telephone.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful will fly to the Indian city of Mumbai today to join his IPL side Mumbai Indians. He will depart later at night after playing a Premier Cricket League match for his team Gazi Tank against Partex at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.

Ashraful will reach Mumbai early tomorrow and depart for Durban in South Africa on April 7, where the Mumbai Indians side will be based.

An excited Ashraful who was at a promotional event for soft drink giant Pepsi yesterday said that the Mumbai Indians were a very strong side in this year's IPL.

"We have players like Jayasuriya, Sachin, Duminy, Pollock, Bravo, Zaheer and Harbhajan and their presence makes our team a strong contenders this year. The team is full of talent and experience and I am sure we will be able to eventually translate that into a big success," said Ashraful.

Mumbai Indians, which is owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, bought the Tigers skipper at his base price of 75,000 dollars on February 6 at the IPL auctions in Goa.

The Mumbai Indians kick off the second edition of the IPL on the opening day (April 18) against last year's runners-up Chennai Super Kings led by Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Link The daily star