Bangladesh Enter a State of Transition as Golden Era Slowly Moves Away

Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim have called it a day in T20Is, Mahmudullah is dropped from the T20I side and Mashrafe Mortaza in 50 overs cricket as well, despite stating his desire to continue. Shakib Al Hasan is still around in all three format. Shakib Al Hasan though is likely to join the others in choosing formats soon. His participation in Test Cricket was minimal in the last year as well, until he was named captain. Now, as his colleagues move away from one format or the other though, Shakib Al Hasan leads in two formats, while he is still a vital part of the ODI side.

While Shakib Al Hasan is still around, the breaks he is taking and the retirements of the others are indicating the onset of an inevitable transition. For fifteen years, five players, termed the fabulous five of Bangladesh carried the nation across formats. In these fifteen years, Bangladesh scaled some incredible heights, did some unthinkable things, but are now on the lookout for new talent with their seniors moving on slowly.

Following the 2019 World Cup, Mashrafe Mortaza was the first to slip away. He was only active in ODIs and with his injury history, retirement was imminent. He still tried playing on until Bangladesh decided to look past him and go for the future.

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In the meantime, Bangladesh went into a tough phase. Shakib Al Hasan, probably the best player in Bangladesh’s history was hit with a ban for an year. He lost an year in his prime. By the time he was back, Tamim Iqbal was on his way out. It was Tamim Iqbal infact, the youngest of the group to start looking after his workload. He started by taking a break from T20Is. After Bangladesh tried new openers, they decided to go back to Iqbal to see if he was interested in coming back, following which he announced his retirement earlier this year.

By the time Tamim Iqbal retired though, Mahmudullah called it a day in Test Cricket. Shakib Al Hasan too was taking breaks frequently and missed a lot of Test matches in the period. Iqbal is still around in the longer formats, but moved on from T20Is while Mahmudullah chose to move on from Tests. Mahmudullah remained a key player in the white-ball formats, leading the T20 side. His finishing abilities were often lauded. Now, with poor numbers behind him though, Mahmudullah is out of the T20 side, a few weeks away from the World Cup.

While Mahmudullah has only been left out, another old legend of Bangladesh Cricket has gone the distance and retired. The star to do so is none other than Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh’s big game hero over the last fifteen years. with poor returns, in recent games, he decided to retire from the format all together. He wasn’t close to the axe like Mahmudullah, but decided to move on. Mushfiqur Rahim though is still pretty active in the other formats. At 35, he has some years left and is currently their most prolific player in Test Cricket. He has been fortunate to play most of their Tests, shuffling with the keeping role across formats as well.

Coming back to Tamim Iqbal, while the opener retired from T20Is, he is still around in other forms. Injuries though are a concern for him. In the last few years he has missed a fair few games due to a knee injury. He still remains their best opener, and finding a replacement for him will be a challenge. Likewise, a finisher in the place of Mahmudullah will take some searching. He was a calm head down the order. Mahmudullah though, will now have to fight for his place in the side again.

Of the lot, Shakib Al Hasan remains, and is still going strong. He is probably the best player in their history, and is still leading the side in two formats after fifteen long years. Signs of workload management for him are on show as well. He didn’t play the recent series against UAE, making it the first series for Bangladesh without their fab five over the last fifteen years. He is still fit, but will probably make a move in one of the formats as well, like his long-time teammates have.

With the old guard slowly drifting away in one format or the other, Bangladesh has some tough days ahead. They are developing some young talent though. The likes of Litton Das and Mustafizur Rahman are showing promise. The others though will have to step up. Their numbers in T20 Cricket in particular are rather poor. With only Shakib Al Hasan around now, the others have to pull up their socks big time. For Shakib Al Hasan as well, it will be unique World Cup. He will be walking out without the Mushfiqur Rahim, a long time teammate and a name that is often associated with Shakib Al Hasan, in a big event.