BCB president to discuss with Mashrafe about his retirement plan
Pic- Cricfrenzy
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh Cricket Board will sit with ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza in the upcoming weeks to know about his retirement plan, confirmed BCB president Nazmul Hasan on Thursday.
BCB is planning to host a grand farewell for their inspirational ODI’s skipper Mashrafe through a one-off ODI against Zimbabwe in Dhaka next month.
BCB recently announced Bangladesh will host Afghanistan in a lone Test match, followed by a tri-nation T20I series involving Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in September.
Though BCB is yet to announce officially about solitary ODI against Zimbabwe as they are looking for a suitable time slot to host it- either in between the Test and tri-series or following the two series and it is understood that the board is unable to fix the time slot largely due to the fact they are yet to get any consent from Mashrafe.
BCB president Nazmul confirmed Cricfrenzy that they are going to sit with Mashrafe in the upcoming weeks to know about his mind who had earlier intended that he wants to end his career in front of the home crowd and as a result refused the opportunity of retiring at the Lords during the last edition of World Cup.
‘’We don’t know what is going on in his [Mashrafe] mind [regarding his retirement plan],’’ said Nazmul.
‘’Let him come [from his village where he is celebrating Eid] and we are hoping to sit with him with three four days [to know about his future plan],’’ he added.
Mashrafe’s retirement from international cricket has been a topic of discussion in the cricket fraternity for the past few months especially during the World Cup largely due to his form and taking his age into consideration.
However, Mashrafe dropped water on those speculations during the World Cup by stating that he wants to continue playing further and urged that he would think about his retirement after returning back home, though he never came up with anything in this regard during this time frame.
The unexpected injury ahead of the just concluded tour of Sri Lanka came as a blow as it stopped him from having a look at his own self and form after the disastrous World Cup- where he picked only one wickets from eight matches.
Masharafe’s retirement talks first emerged when Bangladesh played their third ODI of the home series against the West Indies in Sylhet in 2018 and it was speculated that the game will be his last at home, though Mashrafe had never confirmed it.
As Mashrafe left an impression during the World Cup that he intends to retire in front of the home crowd it is turning out to be a huge challenge for BCB to fix it up considering the schedule.
According to FTP, Bangladesh will play their next ODI’s in Ireland in June 2020 while they are expected to host Sri Lanka in December 2020.
BCB officials indicated that they will have to make an effort to arrange the ODI with Zimbabwe as it involves heavy finances and if Zimbabwe eventually agrees to play then the board will have to have a budget of some Tk60 lakhs [BDT] to cover up the logistical and other expenses that will be involved with it.
BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin said on Thursday that they are not aware of any ODI’s against Zimbabwe but insisted probably they are not informed as BCB is yet to get any confirmation from Mashrafe.
It can be termed as a mere consequence that Mashrafe began his international career by playing against same opponent in a Test series in 2001 but his Test career could not prolong further due to his seven surgeries on his two knees in a career spanning over 18 years.
