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Mashrafe Bin Mortaza did it at the toss. Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim announced their decisions via social media. Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah chose the old-fashioned way to let all know that they were retiring via press conferences. 

And that’s it. With Mahmudullah set to play his final T20I for Bangladesh against India in Hyderabad today, the ‘Big Five’ of Bangladesh cricket, also known as ‘Pancha Pandab’ in Bangla, will no longer compete in the shortest format of the game.

This makes an interesting event too. This is the only format where all of them announced their retirement formally. 

T20 was never the strongest suit of Bangladesh cricket. But these five cricketers played a significant role in this format too. 

Among the five, all of them led Bangladesh in this format, bar Tamim Iqbal. In fact, they were topping the chart in terms of matches they captained Bangladesh before today’s match.

Mahmudullah has led Bangladesh for a record 43 matches; Shakib sits in second with 39. 

Mashrafe, who was the first of the five to announce retirement from T20Is seven years ago in Colombo, led Bangladesh in 28 matches.

Mushfiq, who was once captain for Bangladesh in all formats, sits at four with 23. Najmul Hossain Shanto is set to take over Mushfiq today.

Among the five, as far as the retirement announcement goes, probably Mashrafe’s decision was the most surprising. It was quite dramatic too. 

There were some rumours surrounding his future in the format, and he confirmed his retirement during the toss of the first game of the series against Sri Lanka in 2017. 

Tamim first took a break from the format after pulling him out of the contention for the 2021 World Cup and had never returned. He remains the highest-run getter as an opener from Bangladesh. 

Mushfiq retired ahead of the 2022 World Cup after a poor run in the format. He is one of the five batters from Bangladesh to score at least 1,500 runs in the format. At the time of his retirement, he had the longest career overall in T20Is with 15 years, 277 days. 

Shakib, the star all-rounder, said during the Test series against India that he had played his last T20 for Bangladesh in the last World Cup. 

He is still the only cricketer to score more than 2,500 runs and take more than 100 wickets in the format. 

Shakib, 37, did, however, keep his door open, saying that if the selectors wanted him in the future, he would reconsider his decision.

The 39-year-old Mahmudullah is set to retire with 141 matches under his belt in the shortest format of the game, which is most by any Bangladesh. 

A handy all-rounder who often has been dubbed the ‘finisher’ for his role in batting, Mahmudullah is only one of the two batters who has scored more than 2,000 runs in T20Is. 

He has scored 2,395 runs at an average of 23.48 and a strike rate of 117.74. Only Shakib (2,551) is ahead of him in terms of runs scored. 

Nic Pothas, fielding coach of the Tigers, paid tribute to the likes of Mahmudullah in the press conference before the last match in Hyderabad on Friday. 

‘We need to acknowledge that they have forged a path for young cricketers to follow. With any luck, they will be around to help in any capacity, to pass on that experience, to make the next generation better,’ he said.

‘Bangladesh are fortunate to have players of that calibre to play for that length of time. As a group, we wish them the best of luck.’