Bangladesh Cricket Board’s decision to rest T20I captain Mahmudullah and veteran wicketkeeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim is being considered as an U-turn from what the board president Nazmul Hasan had opined recently.
BCB following a meeting with Mahmudullah in Dhaka Friday announced that the cricketer along with Mushfiq will be rested from the upcoming three-match T20I series on tour of Zimbabwe.
The duo however, has been kept part of the one-day international leg of the tour.
This came on the back of Nazmul’s statement of not making drastic changes to the team playing the shortest format of the game.
The BCB chief while speaking to the media following BCB’s Annual General Meeting last Tuesday had opined that big alterations - like changing the captain or players - would not guarantee performance of the team that has been struggling in the 20-over format.
“It is not guaranteed that tweaks will ensure a change in performance of the team in T20I. This is the first thing [we should understand]. We need to think long-term. We need to discuss first before making any decision. There is wide discussion on Mahmudullah because he is not being able to score runs. That’s the main problem. We will speak to him [once he returns from Zimbabwe]. I think everything will be fine once he starts scoring,” said Nazmul.
However, as it happened, Nazmul’s opinion failed to sustain following the board’s decision to omit Mahmudullah and Mushfiq, the two veteran cricketers in the Bangladesh dressing room, from the T20Is in Zimbabwe while a new captain in young stumper-batter Nurul Hasan Sohan was also appointed.
The decision from the board had come following meeting between BCB cricket operations committee chairman Jalal Younus, Bangladesh national team director Khaled Mahmud, Mahmudullah and other BCB influentials.
Though BCB director Jalal stated that the national team management has come to the decision to try and test a young team against lower ranked Zimbabwe, it is widely established that the board is mulling not involving Mahmudullah and Mushfiq at all here onwards in T20I.
The team will be led by Nurul in Zimbabwe as part of stop-gap arrangement and afterwards the charge will be handed over to ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan.
Shakib has asked to take leave from the tour of Zimbabwe citing personal reasons and the board duly obliged once again without any delay.
Many in the fraternity are doubtful if the radical decisions will do justice to the team ahead of major multi-nation events and that it is a big gamble being played by the board with a team that has already been struggling in T20I cricket.
Asia Cup T20I 2022 is scheduled to take place in August and the T20 World Cup later in October-November in Australia.
Under such situation Bangladesh will only have Shakib in terms of vast experience to take the team forward along with the young ones.
They are already missing out on vastly experienced opener Tamim Iqbal who announced his retirement from T20Is earlier this month.
Both Mahmudullah and Mushfiq though should have seen it coming as their performance has been under the radar of an unpleased BCB.
Mahmudullah, keeping to his character, has been silent on the matter but not Mushfiq.
The 35-year-old Mushfiq did not speak in public on the matter but has showed signs of frustration through social media not once but twice.
The diminutive batsman Thursday triggered controversy after he posted a video of himself working out at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
In the caption Mushfiq wrote, “Assalamualaikum all. Happiness is this when most of them r [are] sleeping and u [you] do the dirty hard work.”
Mushfiq Saturday posted a photo of himself in the national dressing-room “sleeping”.
Since the posts published many are assuming Mushfiq has probably pointed it towards the board, the media and the critics who think he is no longer capable of giving the needed service to Bangladesh T20I team.