Bangladesh aims to make Mahmudullah’s farewell match memorable with a victory. Today, experienced Bangladeshi cricketer Mahmudullah Riyad will retire from T20s after playing the third and final match of the ongoing series against India. Bangladesh wants to commemorate his farewell with a win.
Having already lost the series after being defeated in the first two matches, the Tigers are now hoping to avoid a whitewash, while India aims to maintain their winning streak and sweep Bangladesh. The final T20 match will start at 7:30 PM Bangladesh time at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad.
Despite being whitewashed by India in the two-match Test series, Bangladesh was confident of success in T20s. However, the Tigers could not put up any significant fight against India in the first two matches of the T20 series.
In the first match in Gwalior, Bangladesh suffered a 7-wicket defeat due to batting failure. After setting a total of 127 runs, India chased it down with 49 balls to spare.
In the second match in Delhi, Bangladesh failed in both batting and bowling. Taskin and Mustafizur couldn’t capitalize on winning the toss and opting to bowl first. India posted a massive total of 221 for 9. Bangladesh’s batting collapsed, managing only 135 for 9, resulting in an 86-run defeat and ensuring a series loss with one match to spare.
Like the first two matches, Bangladesh will enter the third and final match with a focus on winning. However, the spotlight will be on Mahmudullah.
Mahmudullah had announced his retirement from T20s to the media before the second match in Delhi, saying, “I will retire from T20s after this series.”
In the first match of the series, Mahmudullah scored 41 runs off 39 balls, hitting 1 six, and in the second match, he hit 3 sixes. If he plays the farewell match, he will end his T20 career with 141 international matches. So far, he has scored 2,436 runs with 8 half-centuries and taken 40 wickets in 140 matches.
Mahmudullah holds the record for playing the most T20 matches for Bangladesh. He made his T20 debut against Kenya in Nairobi in 2007. Mahmudullah is stepping away from T20s to focus more on ODIs.
He also holds the record for leading Bangladesh in the most T20 matches, having captained the team in 43 matches, with 16 wins and 26 losses. Mahmudullah retired from Test cricket in 2021 after a match against Zimbabwe.
Bangladesh made one change in the lineup for the first match of the series in Gwalior. The Tigers might make further changes in the final match, giving a chance to the bench. Mahedi Hasan could replace Zakir Ali, who scored 8 and 1 runs in the first two matches, respectively.
India fielded the same lineup in both of the first two matches and may bring in players from the reserve bench like Ravi Bishnoi, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, and Harshit Rana for the final game.
Bangladesh’s record against India in T20s isn’t good, having won just 1 of the 16 matches while losing 15. Their sole win came in the first match of the T20 series in Delhi during their 2019 tour, where they won by 7 wickets.
Bangladesh team: Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah Riyad, Liton Kumar Das, Zakir Ali Anik, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shariful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, and Rakibul Hasan.
India team: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy, Jitesh Sharma, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Mayank Yadav.
