Bangladesh Cricket
‘Silent Killer’ Mahmudullah retires from Test cricket
|| CF DESK ||
Mahmudullah's retirement from Test cricket has been mentioned by Test skipper Mominul Haque after the 220 runs triumph against Zimbabwe in Harare Test Sunday. The captain said about the matter in a post-match press conference.
Earlier, the ‘Silent Killer’ received a guard of honor from his teammates before the start of day five of the just concluded one-off Test series.
Mominul felt sad about his sudden retirement but he also remarked that everyone can make personal decisions.
"It is his personal decision. It is difficult for me to talk about it. Everyone can make personal decisions. Of course, I have to feel bad as a young captain, if I don't feel bad it's definitely an unusual thing" Mominul said.
After his plan to retire from Test cricket was leaked in the media on Friday, Mahmudullah caused a stir within the country's cricketing community. Following the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, news broke that the middle-order batsman and off-spinner would retire from the longer version of the game.
However, neither the Bangladesh Cricket Board [BCB] nor Mahmudullah have made a formal proclamation on the occasion yet.
Before the Zimbabwe Test, Mahmudullah played his final match at Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in January 2020, and was consequently left out of the series against Zimbabwe last year, as well as the West Indies and Sri Lanka this year. In 2020, he was one of just a few cricketers to be handed a white-ball-only core contract.
The Bangladesh selection panel included Mahmudullah, three days after declaration of the initial team for the Zimbabwe game, as back-up to the injured opener Tamim Iqbal and middle-order batsman Mushfiqur Rahim.
He returned to Test cricket after a long 16 months with the series against Zimbabwe. In the first innings of this Test, he played a brilliant unbeaten innings of 150 runs from 278 balls.
During a shaky situation, he and Taskin Ahmed made the second highest 9th wicket partnership of 191 runs, which helped Bangladesh to put a huge total of 468 runs in the first innings.
In red-ball cricket, Mahmudullah has played 50 Tests and scored 2,914 runs with the bat. He has scored 5 centuries and 16 half centuries in his Test career.
Mahmudullah has also played an effective role for Bangladesh with the ball. He has taken 43 wickets with right-arm off-spin. His career-best bowling figures were 5 for 51.
Mahmudullah made his Test debut in 2009 against West Indies. He scored 9 and 8 runs with the bat in that match, although he took 3 and 5 wickets in two innings and played a big role to clinch victory for Bangladesh by 95 runs.