Bangladesh‘s iconic fan Shoaib Ali aka Tiger Shoaib was walking in front of the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium holding a placard ‘Miss You Always Mahmudullah’.
Due to Bangladesh’s poor performance in the T20 along with India’s ban on travel visas, the number of spectators at the stadium was few. So there was no audience except Shoaib to wish Mahmudullah Riyad‘s retirement match in Hyderabad.
However, teammates gave Mahmudullah a guard of honour. Captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto presented the crest on behalf of the team.
Mahmudullah’s T20 career started on 1 September 2007 against Kenya, his journey in the shorter version of cricket came to an end against India on 12 October 2024 in Hyderabad.
Mahmudullah, who played the most 141 T20 matches for Bangladesh, is talking about the farewell match before the start of the match. Such a moment of emotion? ‘Yes, it’s an emotional moment for me,’ he replied. I feel lucky to have played for Bangladesh for many years. Now is the time to move on and leave my place for the youth. I will try to consider the ODI version as well.’
Since his debut, he has scored 2,436 runs at an average of 23.48 in 141 matches. Strike rate 117.51. He took 40 wickets with the ball. Bangladesh has played 179 T20s so far, Mahmudullah was on the field in most of the matches.
Mahmudullah led Bangladesh in the shorter version of cricket. Mahmudullah became the captain after Shakib Al Hasan was banned in 2019. The captaincy began in the India series. He is stopping against the same country after five years.
Bangladesh will play the 2022 World Cup under Mahmudullah. Seber failed to win a single match after advancing to the Super Twelve after losing against Scotland. Lost leadership due to performance, dropped from the team. After hard training and perseverance, he returned to the team but now at the bottom of the performance graph.
Bangladesh should be more dominant in T20 cricket – he commented in his last match. At this time he compares his beginning and end.
‘I think if you consider the achievements this edition we have had ups and downs. When I entered the dressing room in 2007, there was not such a winning atmosphere. After 17 years the atmosphere in the dressing room is much better, the boys are desperate to win wherever they play, whoever the opponent is. I think we need to be a bit more consistent this edition.’
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