Mahmudullah announces retirement from T20I
Mahmudullah Riyad, one of the senior cricketers of Bangladesh, has announced his retirement from cricket’s T20I format.
He made the announcement in a press conference in New Delhi of India on Tuesday (October 8).
Mahmudullah, who earlier retired from the Test and ODI, will play his last match in the second game of the T20I series against India.
ESPNcricinfo adds: A former captain in the format, Mahmudullah retires as the fourth-most-capped T20I player in history. He has played 139 matches, just behind Rohit Sharma and the Ireland duo Paul Stirling and George Dockrell. He is also Bangladesh's second-highest run-scorer in the format, only behind Shakib Al Hasan. Mahmudullah has also played in the most defeats in this format, and earlier this year he became Bangladesh's oldest player in T20Is.
Mahmudullah will be remembered for his transformation as a big-hitter almost a decade after his debut. At the start of 2016, Hathurusinghe had given him the role of finisher. He took up the challenge, adding more aerial shots to his repertoire.
"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."
He raised his strike rate for the following couple of years, culminating in his best T20 knock in 2018. His unbeaten 43 off 18 balls against Sri Lanka took Bangladesh to the Nidahas Trophy final, and it was played with an umpiring controversy around, which led to then captain Shakib nearly calling off the Bangladesh innings. Despite all that - during the last over of an already tense chase - Mahmudullah held his nerve and won the match off the penultimate ball when he whipped Isuru Udana for a six.
ARB/MSU
