In 2021, Mahmudullah Riyad said goodbye to the longest format by returning to the Test team with a century. But this time he has said goodbye to another format by announcing it at a press conference. 38-year-old Mahmudullah announced his retirement from international T20 on Tuesday.
I am retiring from T20I cricket after the last game of this series. I was pre-decided before coming here, Mahmudullah said. I had a chat with my family. I spoke to the coach [Chandika Hathurusinghe], captain [Najmul Hossain Shanto], chief selector [Gazi Ashraf Hossain] and the board president [Faruque Ahmed] as well. I think it is the right time to move on from this format for me and the team. Especially with the World Cup coming up in less than two years. I will concentrate on the one-day game.
9 October, Bangladesh will face India in the second T20I of the series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Mahmudullah announced his retirement in a press conference the day before this match. The third and final T20 of the series in Hyderabad on 12 October will be his last match in this format. The India tour has become one of farewells for Bangladesh cricket. Shakib Al Hasan announced his retirement from Tests and T20Is before the Pune Test.
In 2007, Mahmudullah started his journey in international cricket. He made his debut in the Bangladesh team with an ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo in July. A few months later, Mahmudullah made his T20I debut against Kenya in Nairobi. He has played 139 matches in this format, which is the highest among Bangladeshi cricketers.
Mahmudullah has so far scored 2,395 runs at an average of 23.48 and a strike rate of 117.74 with eight half-centuries in 128 innings. This is the second highest among Bangladeshi batters. He bowled in 78 innings and took 40 wickets. Eight bowlers have more wickets than him in this shortest format.
Back in 2016, there was a T20 World Cup in India. Before that, we had a training camp in Khulna. I changed my batting approach from that camp, Mahmudullah said. I had to bat at No. 6 or 7, so I decided to change my approach and style. It was the team’s finisher role. It was a very tricky place to bat. Not always you could finish the game. People would usually highlight the ones you didn’t finish, rather than the ones you were there for. But it is part and parcel of this game.
Mahmudullah, who has played the most T20Is for the country, has also captained the highest number of matches in this format. He captained in 43 matches, out of which Bangladesh won 16 matches. Mahmudullah has won as many matches as Shakib as captain, but Shakib has led fewer matches than him. The experienced all-rounder captained in 39 T20 matches.
Mahmudullah’s highest innings in T20Is was against West Indies, in Mirpur in 2012 when the right-handed batter scored 64 runs off 48 balls with three fours and four sixes. Mahmudullah took three wickets for 10 runs in one over against Pakistan in Mirpur in 2021 and this is his career-best bowling performance so far. Apart from bat and ball, Mahmudullah has also contributed in the field. He took 50 catches in his 17-year-long career, which is the highest for the country.
