Dhaka– Bangladesh cricket team limited-overs captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza bade goodbye to the T20I format ahead of the Tigers 1st T20I battle of a two-match series against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Tuesday. “This is the right time for me to say good-bye to T20 format so that many youngsters can get the opportunity to showcase their talent and thus BCB can nurture them for the future,” said the inspirational captain Mashrafe, who served the national team in this format for around 10 years.The 33-year-old from Narail expects to see a new captain soon for the shortest format. “Let me congratulate the new Captain in advance & I am sure our best days are yet to come. See you soon, Love!”Mashrafe who is famous as ‘Narail Express’ for his pace bowling, captained Bangladesh in 26 T20Is and won nine.On his T20I debut, which was also Bangladesh’s first ever T20I (against Zimbabwe), Mortaza top-scored with 36 off just 26 balls as the Tigers defeated Prosper Utseya’s men by 43 runs. He also took the all-important wicket of Brendan Taylor to halt Zimbabwe’s chase.He expressed his humble gratitude to his fans saying, “I always tried to make my fans happy. I am very sorry to each and every fan for not being able to make them happy in every match.”Mashrafe has played 52 T20Is and has taken 39 wickets at an economy rate of 8.05, with the best figures of 4/19, while with bat he scored 368 runs at average 13.62, making T20I debut in November 28, 2006 at Khulna.Mashrafe will continue to lead Bangladesh’s ODI side, through their appearance at the Champions Trophy in England in June. Previously, Mashrafe had expressed a plan to retire from all formats of the game following that engagement. Today’s announcement may just mean he plans to stick to it. He played 172 ODIs and 225 wickets conceding at average 30.21 runs, making his debut on November 2001. UNB agency
