Mahmudullah will bid farewell to T20 cricket tomorrow. He said goodbye to Test cricket in July 2021, in a rather dramatic fashion during the series against Zimbabwe. This time, there will be no drama. Tomorrow, Tuesday, in Delhi, Mahmudullah will officially announce his retirement from T20 cricket. He will declare that the ongoing series against India is his last T20 series.
This means, if everything goes according to plan, Mahmudullah will play his last T20 match on October 12 in Hyderabad. Before that, he will play the second T20 against India in Delhi the day after tomorrow.
Sources have revealed that Mahmudullah had decided to retire from T20 cricket long before the India series. He has already informed the top management of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) about his decision. The BCB has also welcomed his decision to retire from the field.
It is known that Mahmudullah, who is close to turning 39, will announce his retirement from T20 cricket tomorrow in a press conference ahead of the second T20 in Delhi. Attempts to reach Mahmudullah via WhatsApp for confirmation were unsuccessful.
Mahmudullah made his T20 debut in September 2007 against Kenya in Nairobi. Since then, he has played the most T20 matches for Bangladesh, with a total of 139 games. He has scored 2,395 runs at a strike rate of 117.74, with an average of 23.48.
Between 2018 and 2022, Mahmudullah captained Bangladesh in 43 T20 matches, including the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. As captain, Mahmudullah won 16 T20 matches and lost 26. While his number of wins as captain is the same as Shakib’s, Shakib achieved 16 victories in fewer matches (39) as captain.
