Bangladesh allrounder and T20 captain Mahmudullah Riyad was presented a guard of honour by his team mates as he bade an emotional farewell to Test cricket ahead of the fifth day’s play in the Harare Test against Zimbabwe.  The right-handed allrounder reportedly informed his teammates about his retirement ahead third day’s play of the match. He, however, didn’t say anything about it to the media.  Read:Bangladesh seven wickets away from a win in Harare Before getting selected for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, Mahmudullh was out of the longer version of the game for more than 17 months. He hit an unbeaten 150 in this comeback Test, which will now be his last Test innings.  A Bangladeshi media reported from Harare that Mahmudullah last night gave an impression that he is going to rethink this retirement. But he didn’t.   “He didn’t inform me anything officially about it,” Nazmul Hasan, the BCB president, told a national daily earlier. “I came to know from someone else. But it’s not acceptable to me. It’s unusual. We are playing a Test now. The match is yet to end.” Nazmul also said that the decision of Mahmudullah surprised him more because the allrounder agreed to play in all formats for the Tigers what he has said to the board in the written consent.  “He was a last-minute inclusion to the Test side because he wrote to us that he would play Test if he gets a chance,” Nazmul added. “We asked every national team member to inform us in what formats they prefer to play, and Mahmudullah told us he is up for every format.” Read:Shadman, Shanto hit centuries as Bangladesh secure 476-run lead

Bangladesh allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin has said that he is looking forward to doing well in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka starting from May 23 in Dhaka. Bangladesh’s last ODI series was in New Zealand against the hosts where they lost 3-0. They failed to pose any challenge to the Kiwis. But Saifuddin believes they can overcome that failure at home. “It was very disappointing to lose all the games in New Zealand. We failed to play according to our ability,” Saifuddin told the media on Friday during a training session at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium ahead of the series. Also read: Bangladesh-Sri Lanka ODI series: Tigers start practising “Now we are set to play a series against Sri Lanka at home. I hope we can do better in this series. We have been working very hard during Ramadan, and many of us are fasting as well. We lost a Test series against them recently, so it’s a good chance to do well against them in ODIs. And at the same time, there are World Cup Super League points to grab from this series. So we have to do well,” Saifuddin added. Bangladesh are currently placed at number six at the World Cup Super League points table with six wins and as many as defeats from six games. The top seven teams of this event will qualify to the World Cup 2023 with the hosts India. Also read: Saifuddin eying a spot in Test team “The first ten overs are crucial to set a good foundation. So if we want to do well against the islanders, we have to take some quick wickets when we bowl first and we have to bat well when we bat first. We failed to do this in New Zealand. Now we are going to play at the familiar wicket and condition, so we have a good chance to do well,” Saifuddin added. The 24-year-old allrounder played a total of 24 ODIs so far and bagged 34 wickets with the best of taking four conceding 41 runs and amassed 302 runs with two fifties. The allrounder played only two ODIs against Sri Lanka and failed to shine as he scored only 14 runs in two scalped a wicket.

Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan and left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman arrived in Dhaka from India. They were playing Indian Premier League (IPL) for Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals respectively. A special flight, carrying Shakib and Mustafizur, landed in Dhaka at 3:30pm on Thursday. They now will have to maintain a strict 14-day quarantine in a Dhaka hotel. The latest edition of IPL has been suspended indefinitely after the Covid-19 hit the event. On May 3, two of Shakib’s KKR teammates  tested positive for Covid-19. More players from several IPL franchises have were also found positive for the deadly virus and the authority was forced to suspend the league indefinitely. Shakib and Mustafizur, however, were stuck in India as the Bangladesh authority imposed a ban on the flights from India to stop the transmission of the virus. The wo crickets had to wait for two days to return home. Shakib and Mustafizur are drafted in the preliminary squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka starting on May 23. Both of them missed the Sri Lanka tour for a two-match Test series that took place in Sri Lanka. They were on leave to take part in IPL.

Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, who just finished serving a one-year ban for failing to report corrupt approaches, created a fresh controversy after avoiding quarantine terms upon his arrival from the USA on Thursday night.