Mushfiqur Rahim, former Bangladesh captain, announces retirement from T20Is
Bangladesh's star wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim announced his retirement from the shortest format of the game on Sunday to “focus on Test and ODIs.”
Bangladesh's star wicketkeeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim announced his retirement from T20Is on Sunday. Rahim took to his official Twitter account to make the announcement, insisting that he will now be focussing on ODIs and Tests. Rahim's decision came just over a month before the scheduled start of the T20 World Cup in Australia.
“I would like to announce my retirement from T20 INTERNATIONALS and focus on Test and ODI formats of the game. I will be available to play franchise leagues when the opportunity arrives. Looking forward to proudly represent my nation in the two formats-MR15,” wrote Rahim.
The announcement from the former Bangladesh captain came two days after Bangladesh were knocked out of the 2022 Asia Cup after defeats to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in Group B.
The 35-year-old star wicketkeeper represented Bangladesh in 102 T20Is, scoring 1500 runs with six half-centuries to his name. He was also the side's captain in its 2012 and 2014 T20 World Cup campaigns.
Mushfiqur had been going through a rough patch in the shortest format of the game of late, and in the side's Asia Cup campaign, he had scores of 1 and 4, and also dropped a key catch in the side's must-win game against Sri Lanka earlier this week. In fact, his last T20I fifty came all the way back in the last year's T20 World Cup, where he scored an unbeaten 57 against Sri Lanka in Sharjah.
Mushfiqur is the second major Bangladesh star to draw curtains on his T20I career; earlier in June, opener Tamim Iqbal had also announced his retirement from the shortest format, following a six-month break from T20Is earlier in the year.