Nurul Hasan Sohan’s appointment as the new skipper of the Bangladesh national T20I team did not come as a surprise, especially after Mahmudullah Riyad’s downhill performances for about a year.
But Sohan being appointed only pointed toward one thing - Shakib Al Hasan would be taking charge of the team in the shortest format soon, and Mahmudullah was no longer in the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) plans.
First things first, BCB wanted Shakib to take up the armband immediately, but the all-rounder had already asked for leave from the Zimbabwe tour and held firm.
So, they had to find someone to do the stopgap job and chose Sohan. This meant rags to riches story for the wicketkeeper-batsman, who even a year back was not a regular national team member in any format.
BCB cited Sohan’s leadership qualities as the reason behind their choice, but that seems hardly true. While Sohan takes responsibility behind the stumps, he has often shown naivety when taking important decisions, such as reviews.
The board probably mistook his vocalness and eloquence behind the stumps as the scale to judge leadership, but if only for this series, Liton Das should have been a clear choice.
In Liton’s only outing as the T20I skipper, he got out for a duck trying to play an unnatural scoop shot against New Zealand last year. And it’s pretty obvious that BCB do not want to burden their best batsman with leadership in fear of losing the golden goose, but that’s hardly an excuse.
For now, Sohan has got the job as the stopgap skipper, and the team he will be leading is something Bangladesh fans have been dying to watch.
Without Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain and Sohan will finally be able to bat up the order for a whole series, clearing an avenue to display their full potential.
While Sohan’s batting weaknesses may also get revealed, it’s a risk worth taking because as Khaled Mahmud, a BCB director and the Tigers’ team director, said, they have not been doing well in the format, so it was an opportunity to shake things up and see the results.
And about shaking things up, while BCB has expressively refused to say that they have not dropped Mahmudullah from the T20I side permanently, that seems to be the case.
“We are not removing (Mahmudullah) Riyad permanently. Only for this series. We are not saying he won’t come back. Everybody needs a break. We will think about it later,” Mahmud said after Sohan was declared the new captain.
But it seems like his chapter is closed in this format, and it’s just better for him to retire when he has some respect left among the fans. BCB will not lay a hand on the ODI side, which has been their only source of success in the last few months, especially with the World Cup next year.
So, Mahmudullah, at the ripe age of 37, should just be calling it a day from the shortest format as he seems to be clearly not in the plans for the T20 World Cup in Australia.
Mahmudullah took charge of the team in dire times after Shakib was banned by ICC. And then, he did some good work but then overstayed his welcome.
And now it’s only time for him to say goodbye. If he doesn’t, BCB will have to take the high road, and that by no means, will be pretty.
