Bangladesh star Mahmudullah says farewell to red-ball cricket

Four months after informing his teammates, Mahmudullah Riyad has finally officially announced his retirement from Test cricket. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed the news of Mahmudullah’s retirement in an official press release yesterday. 

Mahmudullah last played a Test in Zimbabwe in June-July 2021. He returned to the Test team after a long 16 months and played the career-best 150-run innings in that match. That’s when he discussed retirement with his teammates. On the last day of the match, the players of the Bangladesh team also gave him a guard of honour. He also won the Player of the Match award for winning the match by a record margin of 220 runs.

But even though everyone in the team knew, he had not officially made the announcement so far. When Mahmudullah was asked about playing in the Test series again during the T20I series against Pakistan, he said, “Never (will never return to the Test).” BCB president Nazmul Hasan Papon, however, expressed anger over Mahmudullah’s sudden retirement and hoped Riyad would not be allowed to retire from the Tests.

But in the end, before the start of the 2-match Test series against Pakistan, the official announcement was made by Bangladesh T20I captain Mahmudullah Riyad. In his farewell speech, he said that he had been a part of the team for a long time in this format and it would not be an easy task to remove himself from it. However, he thinks this is the right time to leave his Test career. He expressed his gratitude to the BCB president for being by his side when he returned to the Test team. He also thanked all the teammates and support staff.

Mahmudullah has said that he will continue to play ODIs and T20Is even after leaving the Tests. “Although I am retiring from Tests, I will still be playing ODIs and T20 internationals and looking forward to continuing giving my best for my country in white-ball cricket.”

Mahmudullah Riyad made his Test debut on 9 July 2009 against the West Indies in Kingstown. Then he played for an era. Finally, the end of his 12-year career has come.

35-years aged Mahmudullah has played 50 Tests. He has scored 2914 runs at an average of 33.49. He also has 5 Test centuries in his career. Riyad also took 43 wickets in his Test career. Mahmudullah Riyad also led Bangladesh in 6 Test matches.

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