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Bangladesh have played 177 T20Is and Mahmudullah Riyad has been part of 140 of them. The veteran cricketer is now expected to announce a decision to bring the curtain down on his T20I career. Riyad is set to make an announcement, which could even be due in today's pre-match press conference ahead of the second T20I against India and according to a source, Riyad is set to close the gate on his T20I career.
"It's not a break, he wants to bring an end to the T20I chapter. He is supposed to announce it in this series," a BCB official told The Daily Star. While the suggestions are that he may come to the press conference today, it could not be determined whether he would make that announcement.
Sources have revealed that he had already communicated his desires to leave the format before the series. It was skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, who had talked about a new approach from this series before the first T20I in Gwalior. "From this series, you will see our players trying to play with a new approach," he had said.
Since many of the younger players are coming through in this India series, Mahmudullah Riyad's place in it was questioned. Shanto's reply suggested that Riyad had been pondering an eventuality to his T20I career. "This is a very important series for him [Mahmudullah] and maybe he will be in talks with the selectors, I am not too clear on that.
But I feel that obviously there will be a discussion with the selectors and the board." That it was an important series, as Shanto said, would merit the return question from the media. Was this Riyad's last T20I series? "We haven't gone into any discussions about it.
Going forward, let's see if it [discussion] happens. I don't want to get into this discussion before the start of a series," Shanto had said. The speculations had already been there after Shanto's press conference.
Riyad's performances in the last T20I World Cup was criticised, especially in light of his approach. Riyad had retired from Tests in 2021..
