As Bangladesh gear up to host Zimbabwe in February, the focus is back once again on Mashrafe Mortaza’s impending retirement. The fast bowler was expected to call time on his career after the 2019 World Cup, but decided against making any such decision, cricbuzz reports.
Mortaza, who returned to action from his injury in the ongoing Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League, revealed that he has still not given retirement a serious thought, and that he is open to listening to what the board has to offer him in the form of a farewell series.
“You can say that everybody is making me retire from the cricket. I don’t carry any complain for anyone. And I have not decided anything about retirement. If the board says something than I will think about it but I am enjoying the game. I haven’t taken any decision on whether I will retire from the field but if the Cricket Board has that sort of plan than
definitely I will rethink about it,” Mortaza said.
“I had the opportunity to get back to the team in Sri Lanka since Shakib was rested. I couldn’t play due to injury after which Bangladesh didn’t play any ODI. So I didn’t get any opportunity to talk to the selectors about what they are thinking about me. But as player I am still enjoying the cricket and if the selectors give me the chance I will definitely play cricket. At the end, cricket is everything to me. So I will play cricket, be it in the national team or any other side. I am now playing BPL. There is Dhaka Premier League also, I will play there, and I will enjoy it,” he said.
Mortaza also opened up on his poor World Cup campaign, and reckoned he would’ve been dropped straightaway if it was any other player. The ODI captain also maintained that if an opportunity still came his way, he’d gladly accept it.
“To be honest, after taking one wicket from eight games, my gut feeling is that I won’t be able to make it to the team. It’s selection matter. If the selectors think that they will give me another opportunity, I will try my best. But I know if anybody, apart from me, got one wicket in eight games, he would have been dropped from the team straightway.
“I don’t know whether I will be given the captaincy [ODI] role again because that's up to the board," he added. Even as the Bangladesh board prepares to host what it essentially viewed as his farewell series, Mortaza has distanced himself from any such thoughts and said that he doesn’t need to be prioritised.
“I don’t think that anyone needs to give me a so much priority [to give me a farewell] as I don’t think it is necessary. I don’t think it is necessary to give me a befitting farewell. I don’t want anybody to come with flower bouquet during my last game,” he said. Another decision that is yet to be made by BCB is regarding their national contracted players list for 2020, which needs to be announced on January 12 after the scheduled board meeting. Bangladesh have nine ODIs in the pipeline this year, and need to figure out whether Mortaza can feature in any plans going forward.
