Mahmudullah retires from Test cricket

Mahmudullah
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Cricketer Mahmudullah has announced his retirement from Test cricket. He was given a guard of honour by his teammates before the start of the fifth day’s play of the one-off Test against Zimbabwe at Harare sports club.

The commentators also confirmed the matter during the television broadcast.

Speculation has been rife that Mahmudullah had announced his decision to the teammates before the game on Day 3 of the Test in Harare.

However, both Mahmudullah and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) remained tight-lipped on the T20 skipper's retirement plan.

Mahmudullah was out of the Test squad for more than 17 months after he played in the Rawalpindi Test against Pakistan in 2020. As he was recalled for the Test against Zimbabwe, the senior tiger campaigner smashed an unbeaten 150 -- his fifth Test ton and highest in this format of the game -- in the lone test match of the series at Harare.

The speculation seemed to have erupted from the T20 skipper's emotional outburst following his superb performance in the comeback Test.

Following the discussion over Mahmudullah’s decision, BCB president Nazmul Hassan told a leading national daily that the rumours came as a surprise to him.

Bangladesh's Mahmudullah (R) plays a shot as Zimbabwe's wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva (C) looks on during the first day of the Test cricket match between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh at the Harare Sports Club in Harare on 7 July, 2021
AFP

"Mahmudullah, right before flying to Zimbabwe, expressed his consent to play in every format of cricket for Bangladesh," he added.

“He didn’t inform me anything officially about it. I came to know from someone else. But it’s not acceptable to me. It’s unusual. We are in the middle of a Test match now. The match is yet to end," the BCB president said.

“He was a last-minute inclusion to the Test side because he wrote to us that he would play Test if he gets selected,” Nazmul said.

“We asked every national team member to inform us which format of the game they would prefer to play, and Mahmudullah told us he was up for every format.”

Mahmudullah made his debut against West Indies in 2009.

He scored 2,914 runs at an average of 33.49 runs in 50 Tests. He also bagged 43 wickets in Test.