BCB awaits Mashrafe's decision on retirement plans

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.

Even before going to England for the World Cup, Mortaza's retirement post the campaign was anticipated. The expectation grew manifold following his below-par returns in the tournament - where he picked up just one wicket in eight matches. Once he decided not to retire, he was expected to feature for one last time when Bangladesh toured Sri Lanka for an ODI series - and perhaps bow out at the end of it - but a last-minute injury kept him on the sidelines.

There then seemed to be a sense of urgency from within the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to have Mortaza say his goodbyes and bring down the curtains on his successful career, as they attempted to schedule an ODI series against Zimbabwe when they were in the country for a T20 tri-series, also involving Afghanistan, last September.

BCB failed to organise this series - that was intended as Mortaza's farewell, bringing the situation back to square one. The murmurs of the ODI captain's retirement resurfaced after the board rescheduled their home series against Zimbabwe to February instead of March. Changes were made to the format that will be played as well - Zimbabwe will now play three ODIs and two T20Is along with a Test match, instead of the initially planned schedule of one Test and five T20Is.

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 straightaway.

"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 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.

BCB cricket operation chairman Akram Khan told media that they are yet to finalize the national contract but insisted that current ODI skipper's renewal depends completely on him.

"Whether Mortaza's national contract will be renewed or not largely depends on him as we are not sure what he is thinking about his international career. We could have taken a decision only if we knew his plans but as we are not aware of it we cannot say anything specific about it. We have a board meeting on January 12 and there we will take a decision about the national contracted players for this year," he said.

Source:Cricbuzz