Mashrafe Mortaza asks BCB for time to ponder ODI future

Mashrafe Mortaza has asked the BCB for two months to decide when he wants to retire from ODIs, according to board president Nazmul Hassan. On Saturday afternoon, Mashrafe was seen entering Nazmul's BCB office, for what was probably his first official discussion with the board about his retirement. Other board directors were present during the meeting too.

"Because we don't have any ODIs until next March, Mashrafe has said that he needs another couple of months to be fully ready for a decision," Hassan said. "We will respect that."

ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCB was exploring the possibility of holding a one-off ODI between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe next month, soon after the T20I tri-series.

There are also plans for a fitting farewell for the country's most successful limited-overs captain, but those will now have to wait until March next year when Bangladesh are, according to the latest Future Tours Programme, scheduled to play a home series against Zimbabwe.

Speculation about Mashrafe"s retirement has been strong since he became a member of parliament in December 2018, but he has continued to lead the ODI side since then, in New Zealand, Ireland and then the World Cup in England. He missed Bangladesh's last ODI series - in Sri Lanka - due to a recurring hamstring injury. Mashrafe has already retired from T20Is, while his injury issues have kept him away from Test cricket since 2009.