Bangladesh veteran Mahmudullah Riyad has announced his retirement from international cricket. It happened on the heels of Bangladesh’s poor showing in the recently concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Mahmudullah was voted in the squad for the tournament against all opposition. The decision was significant, given that his age did not work in his favour, and many felt that his best days were behind him.
Bangladesh were defeated by Afghanistan by a mere eight runs in their final encounter in the Super Eight stage of the World Cup. Such a result did not go down well with the team’s supporters. As the team’s senior member, Mahmudullah has taken responsibility for the team’s poor showing. The Tigers had an outside chance of making it to the semifinals by jumping past the queue formed by Afghanistan and Australia.
The 38-year-old walks away from the game at the international level with his head held high.. He has amassed more than 10,000 runs for Bangladesh across all formats. His tally is the highest in ODIs, where he amassed 5386 runs at an average of 35.66. He scored four centuries and 26 half-centuries for his country in this format. In the 50 Tests he played, he scored 2914 runs at an average of 33.49, which included five tons and 16 fifties.
One of Mahmudullah’s most memorable achievements was scoring back-to-back centuries in the 2015 ICC ODI Cricket World Cup, leading Bangladesh to the quarter-finals for the first time. His innings of 103 against England and 128* against New Zealand were instrumental in Bangladesh’s historic campaign. In the T2O format at the international level, he amassed 2394 runs in the 127 innings he walked out to bat.
His teammates will miss him for the experience he brought onto the field. It is yet to be determined whether he will continue to play domestic cricket in Bangladesh. However, it is assumed that he may join the national team’s coaching staff. Mahmudullah was much more than just a handy off-spinner who chose not to roll his arms over towards the latter half of his career.
