No one by my side except the people of Bangladesh: Mashrafe

Former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza alleged that he was forced to retire from the T20 format of cricket in 2017 while Bangladesh were touring in Sri Lanka for a full series. Mashrafe came up with the comment during an interview with the country’s private satellite television channel Ekattor TV.

He initially resigned from T20 captaincy and then announced T20 retirement. Mashrafe had announced his end as a captain of Bangladesh ODI team in March 2020 during the home series against visiting Zimbabwe.

Mashrafe quitted Test in 2009 to long his shorter versions of cricket career in the wake of his repeated injury propensity.  The veteran fast-bowler unexpectedly announced his retirement after the toss in the first T20 against Sri Lanka in 2017. But the 37-year-old pacer said that he will continue to play for the Tigers if the selectors give him a chance in the ODI team in future.

Many people raised questions as to why he made such a hasty decision to retire from the T20. He finally told the media about the situation.

“I had to do it there (retirement), the situation was such that I had to do it. I don’t want to go into details. Show me who supported me during my time. I was not included in the team even after the doctor released me due to injury in the 2011 World Cup. When I retired in 2017, there was no one by my side except the people of the country,” said Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.

On the other hand, Mashrafe alleged that the team's management did not even give him time to change his clothes after the team arrived at the hotel for the Sri Lanka tour. That's when Mashrafe realized something wasn’t quite right.

“When I arrived at the team hotel in Sri Lanka, I did not even open the travel suit and a meeting was held with me. After that meeting, I realized there was some issue. I also thought there was no need to be against everyone,” He added.