Bangladesh had big hopes from Mahmudullah – who had made a comeback to the team earlier this year – and Shakib Al Hasan – the leading all-rounder of the country - heading into the 2024 T20 World Cup.
The tournament, though, extinguished all of that.
Both of them had meaningful contributions in one game each – Mahmudullah against Sri Lanka as he took the Tigers over the line and Shakib with an unbeaten fifty against the Netherlands, which gave Bangladesh a total to defend.
However, their overall performance, was poor even considering the difficult surfaces at the tournament.
Shakib scored 111 runs with an average of 18.50 in seven innings, and without the knock against Netherlands, he scored only 47 runs in six matches.
He was poorer with the ball, picking up just three wickets, with two of them coming against the Nepalese tail.
Mahmudullah scored 95 runs in seven innings and had a strike rate of 94.05, well below par for someone who was expected to play the role of enforcer and finisher ahead of the tournament by head coach Chandika Hathurusingha.
Their form, especially Shakib’s, have seen questions rise about whether they should consider retirement, considering that Bangladesh have two years left for the next T20 World Cup.
Shakib, though, revealed he had no specific plans.
‘I don’t have any plan about myself. The current plan is to play the two franchise tournament and assess myself. Then, there is the national team assignment against Pakistan. For now, the plan is that much,’ he said recently.
‘I haven’t planned much. I now don’t have the time to plan for three-four years. I think it’s better to plan for three to six months.’
Bangladesh Cricket Board president, Nazmul Hasan, also refused to close doors on either player.
‘We fully trust them. It’s true that at some point, they won’t play and say it. The board might also say it. However, we would like it to happen together that when they are leaving,’ he told the media.
Examples of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – the Indian duo who announced their retirement from the format after winning the tournament – only stirred up those questions further.
Eminent local coach and Cricket Advisor at BKSP, Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, though, believes comparisons to India shouldn’t be drawn as Bangladesh lack options to replace the duo.
‘The Indian context and our context are different, so we shouldn’t compare. India have a lot of players to replace them [Rohit and Kohli]. Who will play for us? I don’t think they [Shakib and Mahmudullah] are planning on playing the next World Cup. Nobody wants to retire after such a dull performance. Everyone wants to retire after a good performance. Maybe they are waiting for that in the coming months,’ he told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·.
Fahim also stated that BCB needs to start working on their planning for the next World Cup in 2026, with these players in mind but only if they are the best ones available.
‘BCB should start working with the target of 2026. They can be there if they want to but BCB has to evaluate who are the best and pick the team. It’s not like they can play just because they want to. If there are better players, then those players should play,’ the coach said.