Efficiency on the wane, Mahmudullah sniffs bleak future
Photo - BCB , Roton Gomes
|| CF Correspondent ||
Mahmudullah Riyad is surely running out of time as his prolonged poor form is making Bangladesh pay heavily in the recent past and more importantly raising question over his efficiency.
Mahmudullah failed to deliver against Sri Lanka in the second game but what was more concerning is the manner he tried to play his role in the middle.
It was perfect platform for the middle-order batman to remove all doubts over his ability but he never looked to be carrying the mindset required to fill that responsibility, at least in the series so far.
Mahmudullah was trying to play too many shots too early and probably that forced him to pay the price as Akhila Dhananjaya removed him just by playing over his mind.
Not long ago Mahmudullah was an integral part of Bangladesh set-up as he used to contribute with the bat while could make valuable contribution with the cherry in times of need.
However, that is not the case now considering he is unable to bowl since has been injured for quite sometimes now and it is assumed he played the whole World Cup through injury.
Mahmudullah sustained a shoulder injury during Bangladesh’s tour in New Zealand, an injury which barred him from bowling throughout the show case event.
It was expected that Mahmudullah would take rest to get rid of the injury fully after returning to country from World Cup, but it just didn’t happen as he was included in the team and team management believed he would help fill the void of Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das who took leave for personal affairs to some extent.
But his performance in the first ODI against Sri Lanka surely indicated it was a big mistake as he missed a catch, put shoddy fielding effort and scored just three runs.
Probably his performance in the opening game played a big part on his mind as Mahmudullah certainly looked impatient to prove a point but in the process he just failed to keep the composure to play an innings of substance-making just six runs while he never looked be fit adequately to play an international match.
Mahmudullah have often been touted as a member of the core cricket group compromising with four other seniors- Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafee bin Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan.
While others had reasonable amount of success it is not the case with Mahmudullah as he never looked to be in the same league as a batsman when it comes to Shakib, Tamim and Mushfiqur.
While the trio have scored over 6000 ODI’s runs, Mahmudullah is yet to cross 4000-run mark and he also never managed to show his potential as a bowler it seems he never seemed to part of the core group as he just picked 76 wickets.
After every World Cup every team goes through a transition period and that will be certainly be the case with Tigers as well but whether Mahmudullah fits in the next plan of action is matter left for the future but his action does not provide enough evidence on those directions at least if some of the incident is taken into consideration during the World Cup.
According to close sources in the dressing room Cricfrenzy learnt that Bangladesh’s Shakib al Hasan opted not to take part in the team planning after skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza did not pay any heed to accept his request of dropping Mahmudullah after the third game.
‘’According to Shakib, Mahmudullah never showed any intent during the third game in the World Cup against England where he scored 41-ball 28 when Bangladesh probably needed around 190 runs from 20 overs. During that period inside the dressing room everyone believed that is very much possible but his approach never seemed to be in pointing towards that direction and it was not taken very well by him,” sources said.
‘’ Mahmudullah’s action inside the dressing room after his maiden fifty against Australia was simply shocking as he created scene over his team mates for not recognizing his effort by clapping him when he returned back,’’ he said.
It was learnt Mahmudullah was extremely unhappy that he was demoted at six as he believed that he had the potential to bat up in the order and never looked to be carrying a perfect state of mind throughout the World Cup.
There are several other incidents that suggest Mahmudullah is not having a proper mental state and his decision to avoid media from the tri-nation in Ireland only shows that he is simply not comfortable with his own self.
Bangladesh will soon begin a new era under a new leadership group as that is the norm with most Test playing nation and unless Mahmudullah change drastically both on and off the field it is unlikely that he will be backed in the dressing room.
