Former Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah on Tuesday announced his retirement from T20Is at the of the ongoing bilateral series in India.
Mahmudullah’s retirement comes two weeks after Shakib Al Hasan announced his desire to play his last Test in Mirpur against South Africa, provided he was assured a smooth passage to the country. Shakib also revealed his decision to quit the shortest format after the T20 World Cup, earlier this year.
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“I am retiring from T20I cricket after the last game of this series. I was pre-decided before coming here. I had a chat with my family. I spoke to the coach [Chandika Hathurusinghe], captain [Najmul Hossain Shanto], chief selector [Gazi Ashraf Hossain] and the board president [Faruque Ahmed] as well. I think it is the right time to move on from this format for me and the team. Especially with the World Cup coming up in less than two years. I will concentrate on the one-day game,” Mahmudullah said on Tuesday.
“I’ll try to concentrate on ODIs that are coming up,” he clarified.
Mahmudullah had already retired from Test cricket in 2021, and his white-ball cricket was jeopardised when he dropped for two years from the T20I side, missing 27 matches between 2022 and 2023. He made his comeback with a half-century against Sri Lanka earlier this year, before another underwhelming campaign at the T20 World Cup.
Mahmudullah will retire as the fourth-most capped player in the format. He has played 139 matches, just behind Rohit Sharma and the Ireland duo Paul Stirling and George Dockrell.
Mahmudullah, who took up the finishers’ role almost a decade after his debut, recalled the transformation before the 2016 T20 World Cup in India.
“Back in 2016, there was a T20 World Cup in India and before that, we had a training camp in Khulna. I changed my batting approach from that camp. I had to bat at No. 6 or 7, so I decided to change my approach and style. It was the team’s finisher role. It was a very tricky place to bat. Not always you could finish the game.”
“People would usually highlight the ones you didn’t finish, rather than the ones you were there for. But it is part and parcel of this game,” he said.
He will retire as one of those modern-day all-rounders, who have aggregated 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in international cricket across formats. In his T20I career so far, Mahmudullah has scored 2395 runs and taken 40 wickets. His best score stands at an unbeaten knock of 64 which came against West Indies in 2012.
