Gibson advises Masharfe to retire from international cricket
Image : Collected
|| CF Correspondent ||
Newly-appointed Bangladesh fast-bowling coach Ottis Gibson has told Mashrafe Bin Moraza to retire from international cricket as he does not fit in the skim of things for the tigers in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Former West India fast bowler also said Bangladesh still doesn’t know when the Tigers will play their next one day match or matches because there were scanty of one-day matches for them in the current year’s schedule due to the 2020 ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.
Therefore, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) like the other cricket boards suspended all of their scheduled tours for an indefinite period in the wake of the novel Covid-19 virus pandemic across the world that rocks the whole world with its flings.
The tours the BCB suspended were against Pakistan and Ireland, where they were scheduled to play four of matches, one of them against Pakistan and the rest of them against Ireland. So, there remain a lot of questions about whether Mashrafe will be selected in the team.
In the light of the situation, the former West India fast bowler said it is high time for Mashrafe to call it a day in international cricket.
“I think he has had an outstanding international career,” Gibson told the Bengali daily Prothom Alo on Monday.
“He has done himself and his country proud. With the next World Cup in 2023, any international coach will now start to build a team. I am quite sure that’s what Russell Domingo will be thinking,” Gibson said.
“So he would want to see players like young Hasan Mahmud, [Mohammad] Saifuddin, Shafiul [Islam] and Ebadot [Hossain]. We haven’t seen Ebadot in white-ball cricket yet. Taskin [Ahmed] and Khaled [Ahmed] get fit again. We’ve Hasan and [Mehedi Hasan] Rana. So there are a lot of young cricketers in the country,” he added.
Mashrafe quits captaincy in Bangladesh ODI team in the last home series against Zimbabwe but still will be available for selection if he is selected to play in the team.
And the plan Russell Domingo is preparing for the future of Bangladesh Team, where the young and talented players will step into the team mostly. In such a situation, Mashrafe’s role as a player will become too limited.
“I think if Russell is now trying to build a team for the future, then I don’t know what part Mashrafe will have to play in that,” he thinks.
“Perhaps now is his time, with all that’s going on in the world, to move on. He can find other ways to pass on his vast knowledge and experience to the young guys,” he opined.
“I don't think he has to be on the field to be able to pass on what he has learned over his career. He needs to find other ways to pass on that message,” he signed off.
