Mashrafe Mortaza asks BCB to give him at least two months to decide his future
BCB chief Nazamul Hasan has revealed that Mashrafe Mortaza has asked the Bangladesh Cricket Board two months of time to think about his future. Initially, the board was planning to host a one-off farewell game against Zimbabwe but that now been shelved after the ODI skipper's request.
Recently, BCB had announced that they'll host Afghanistan in a one-off Test, followed by a tri-nation T20I series involving Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in September. In addition to that, they were planning to hostĀ anĀ ODI either in between the Test and tri-series or following the two series so as to give a grand farewell to their legendary skipper.
However, Mortaza has asked the board to give him two months of time to finalise his decision despite the heavy finances involved where the board will have to cough up around Tk60 lakhs to cover up the logistical and other expenses for the game. With Mortaza's decision, it isĀ now clear that he will now not get a farewell game in front of the home crowd as Bangladesh play their next ODI at home only in June 2020.
"We want to arrange an ODI match with Zimbabwe. We discussed with Mashrafe whether we should do that. And he thinks it's too early. Because our next ODI is in March. So he doesn't want to take the decision now. He wants two months. So we have decided to wait for two months as we don't have any ODI match for now," Hasan said.
"Let me tell you one thing it [the farewell] is not the concern of the board only because the player will have to think about it. If the player does not think that way there is no point. Because if a player thinks that I won't go and just axe me from the side then what's benefit from that. We don't want that to happen but you have to understand the mindset of our cricketers. Our job is to inform them and tell them that we want to do it in a good way but the decision is up to the player. If he can make the decision it is alright and if that is not the case board will take the decision. We want to give them a chance to end everything on a perfect note but they have to take the decision."
After the ODI skipper's uninspiring bowling display, the discussion about his retirement is doing rounds in Bangladesh cricketing circles. MortazaĀ though had made it clear that he would give a thought about his future plans after returning to Bangladesh after the World Cup but the injury before the Sri Lanka tour came as a blow as it stopped him from having a look at his own form after the disastrous World Cup where he picked only one wicket from eight matches.
