Mash rejects notion of T20 return

There had been an uproar from Bangladesh fans when their beloved cricketer Mashrafe Bin Mortaza retired from T20 international cricket.

Mashrafe announced his retirement from international T20 cricket during the Tigers' tour of Sri Lanka. However, Mashrafe, who is not part of the Tigers' T20 setup led his side Rangpur Riders to a maiden BPL title yesterday. Throughout this tournament the leader of Rangpur gave some captivating performances --either with the bat, or with the ball or simply through his athletic fielding.

The clamors got stronger with each BPL performance and perhaps came to a head when Mashrafe struck a 17-ball 42 against Chittagong Vikings on November 25, coming down at one-down as Rangpur chased down the target of 177 runs set by Chittagong. In the very next game, the captain played a crucial knock against Sylhet Sixers with a 10-ball 17 at the death, hitting two big sixes as Khulna chased down Sylhet's 173.

These performances helped drive the notion that Mashrafe should reconsider his T20 retirement. After Gayle's thunderous knock had Dynamites on the ropes, the skipper oversaw a comfortable victory over Shakib Al Hasan's Dynamites yesterday, when he bowled four overs and gave away just 25 runs while taking a wicket in his very first over.

Asked whether he wanted to return to the T20 fold, the Bangladesh ODI captain said: "I am not thinking of a comeback [from T20 retirement] first of all, and secondly it is futile to hold a grudge.

He clarified why he felt it was futile with some apt sentiments. Mashrafe felt that it was important to project the right mindset to the young cricketers in the country.

"I don't let the fact that I am playing in T20's affect me because if I think like that then it will affect my team and the young cricketers will get the wrong message."