Mashrafe Mortaza requests BCB to give him some time to decide on ODI future

Speculations surrounding Mashrafe Mortaza’s retirement have been doing the rounds for quite a while now. The Bangladesh veteran didn’t have a great outing in the World Cup and wasn’t at his best with the ball, though he led the national team with dignity. In the next one year, the Tigers won’t be playing many ODIs as the focus remains on the Test Championship and the T20 World Cup.

It means that Mashrafe won’t be seen, donning the national colours many times since he doesn’t play Test and T20I cricket. He has suffered from quite a few knee injuries, something which has turned detrimental in his career. In the meantime, the 35-year-old Mashrafe has asked the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to give him some time in order to decide on his future in the ODIs.

Earlier, it was learned that the BCB was set to have a chat with Mashrafe on his retirement from cricket. “We talked to Mashrafe about the matter and he has asked us to give him two months to make a decision on the matter. The board has allowed him the time to decide,” Nazmul Hasan Papon, the chairman of the nation’s cricket board was quoted as saying.

No farewell ODI for Mashrafe Mortaza in September

Papon made the revelations about Mashrafe Mortaza during a press conference in Mirpur, Dhaka where he also made the announcement of Russell Domingo’s appointment as Bangladesh’s head coach. Domingo edged out the likes of Mickey Arthur, the former Pakistan head coach and Mike Hesson, under whom New Zealand qualified for a World Cup final for the first time in 2015.

The Tigers are scheduled to play a one-off Test versus Afghanistan and a T20I tri-series, also involving Zimbabwe, starting September 5. In order to give Mashrafe a grand farewell, it was known that the BCB was planning to host a solitary ODI versus Zimbabwe. However, nothing was decided.

As far as Mashrafe Mortaza is concerned, he could only pick up one wicket of Jonny Bairstow in the eight matches he played in the World Cup. He was expensive as well, having leaked runs at an economy of 6.44. The pacer was recently ruled out of the ODI series against Sri Lanka owing to a hamstring injury.

Watch: 5 Fielders who saved most runs in 2019 World Cup