Mahmudullah announces T20I retirement

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh veteran all-rounder Mahmudullah Riyad announced to bring the curtain down on his T20I career as he declared it in the pre-match press conference ahead of the second T20I against India. He will retire from the shortest format of the game after the conclusion of this three-match series.

If Mahmudullah plays in the remaining two matches of the series against India, his final T20 match for Bangladesh will be on October 12 at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad.

"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.

Mahmudullah retired from Test cricket in 2021, and despite his decision to retire from T20 internationals, he plans to continue playing One Day Internationals (ODIs) for Bangladesh. So, he is not leaving international cricket entirely at this time.

Bangladesh have played 177 T20Is and Mahmudullah has been part of 139 of them, which makes him the fourth-most-capped T20I player in history. He is also Bangladesh's second-highest run-scorer in the format, only behind Shakib Al Hasan.

At the start of 2016, Hathurusinghe had given him the role of finisher. He took up the challenge, adding more aerial shots to his repertoire.

"Back in 2016, there was a T20 World Cup in India. 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." Mahmudullah added.

Mahmudullah made his T20 debut in 2007 against Kenya. Over the past 17 years, he has played 139 matches, scoring 2,395 runs and taking 40 wickets.

His strike rate is 117.74, with an average of 23.48, and his highest score is an unbeaten 64. He captained Bangladesh in 43 T20 matches, including leading the team in the 2021 T20 World Cup held in the UAE.