One-off ODI if Mash retires?

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is thinking of organising a one-off ODI against Zimbabwe next month to give ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza a grand farewell.

Bangladesh will host Afghanistan for a solitary Test next month, which will be followed by a tri-nation T20I series involving Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.

It was learned that the BCB is planning to host a lone ODI against Zimbabwe either between the Test and tri-nation series or following the two series, but it will all depend on whether Mashrafe will retire, which the 35-year-old has still not communicated with the board.

According to a BCB source, hosting the game will cost the board a fair amount of money and arrangements cannot be made without Mashrafe's confirmation.

Mashrafe's retirement from international cricket has been a topic of discussion in the cricket fraternity over the past few months and the BCB is eager to give the beloved cricketer a proper send-off. Scheduling, however, was a challenge as Bangladesh had no ODIs till February next year, according to the Future Tours Programme.

"This involves a heavy financial investment. We will also need to find out if Zimbabwe will agree to play or not. If they do, then the board will have to have a budget of some Tk 60 lakh as there will be logistical and other expenses involved," said a top BCB official, who wished to remain anonymous, yesterday.

"But before anything we will need to have consent from Mashrafe. We cannot just move ahead, arranging the game and then find Mashrafe not willing to retire at the moment. The [BCB] president [Nazmul Hasan] is likely to speak to him about this today or tomorrow [Thursday]," he added.