Mash seeks two months to decide on retirement
Ever since Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said he would think about retirement after the World Cup, there have been whispers about when that day would come.
After the Tigers' World Cup campaign ended, those discussions gathered even more steam. According to sources, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) even wanted to host one-off ODI against Zimbabwe at home in September to give the inspirational cricketer a proper send-off.
BCB president Nazmul Hassan wanted to have a discussion with Mashrafe and arrange a grand farewell for the Tigers' most successful skipper and Mashrafe arrived at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday to be part of that meeting ahead of the announcement of the new head coach.
Hassan later revealed that the 35-year-old asked for two more months to think about his decision.
It was learned that Mashrafe was emotional during the meeting and, according to a source close to the board, was also annoyed that he was not informed about the one-off game arranged for his farewell, only finding out about it through the media.
"We asked him about arranging the one-day game against Zimbabwe and wanted to know his thoughts. He thinks it's too early because we still have a lot of time before the next ODI series, which is around March next year. It is better for him if he gets two months' time to think about it and make a decision. He wanted two months and it was also fine with us because we don't have any ODIs any time soon," Hassan told reporters yesterday.
There may be a few other reasons for Mashrafe postponing his retirement, but the BCB boss said he would prefer the player make the decision.
"It is not only board's responsibility. It should come from the player too. Suppose a player doesn't want to retire and thinks: 'If they want to drop me, let them do that'. Then what will you do? Our job is to inform and we want to do it properly to bid a good farewell. If the player can take the decision, he can. Otherwise the board will take the decision," Nazmul concluded.
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