The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) intend to meet ODI skipper Mashrafe Mortaza in the near future to seek clarity over his international future.
Mortaza’s Bangladesh future has been the subject of heavy speculation ever since the World Cup in England drew to a close with the 35-year-old picking up just the one wicket in his eight appearances in the tournament.
The right-armed seamer has been hampered by knee injuries for some time now and recently pulled out of the side’s tour of Sri Lanka due to a hamstring injury. That the Bangladesh skipper was elected as a member of the parliament earlier this year has added further fuel to rumours that he will be retiring from international cricket from very soon.
“We don’t know what is going on in his mind,” BCB president Nazmul Hasan told Cricbuzz.
“Let him come [from his village where he is celebrating Eid] and we are hoping to sit with him to know about his future plan],” the BCB supremo added.
Mortaza has declined drastically as a player.
According to the report by Cricbuzz, the BCB is looking to arrange a solitary ODI fixture to give Mortaza a deserved send-off but are finding it hard to schedule one. The Tigers are set to take on Afghanistan in a one-off Test next month before hosting a T20 tri-series also involving Zimbabwe.
The plan for the BCB is to organise a one-off ODI against Zimbabwe somewhere between the Test and T20 tri-series but the board will first seek clarity from Mortaza on his plans before they proceed.
Mortaza is only active in the ODI format for Bangladesh but there is no other 50-over game scheduled for the national team before the clashes against Ireland in June, 2020. Hence, the board are hoping that they can arrange a solitary fixture against Zimbabwe next month to give the skipper a farewell game.
