Mahmudullah set to be dropped from Test squad
Bangladesh middle-order batsman Mahmudullah's Test career is defined to come to a halt, at least for the time being, as the team management has asked him to re-think his future in longer-version cricket, shortly after the opening Test against Pakistan.
Head coach Russell Domingo initiated the proceed to inform the 34-year-old that he isn't part of their Test plans for the immediate future.
Mahmudullah, the former Test skipper, may very well be axed from the squad for the upcoming one-off Test against Zimbabwe scheduled from February 22. Mahmudullah, who's also the T20I captain, has been asked to give attention to the limited-overs formats. In his last 10 Test innings, Mahmudullah has scored only 1 half century, an innings of 67 against New Zealand in Wellington in March 2019.
Bangladesh are struggling in Test cricket for quite some time, suffering just one more humiliating defeat in the Rawalpindi Test where these were humbled by an innings and 44 runs by Pakistan. Mahmudullah's 25 runs in the first innings and a golden duck in the next innings didn't do his cause worthwhile.
In the first Test against Pakistan, Mahmudullah was the hat-trick victim of 16-year-old Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah, along with his mode of dismissal - fishing after a wide delivery to get another edge - not impressing the Bangladesh management.
"We've asked our head coach to talk to him regarding his future in the longer-version cricket and he previously spoken with him in this regard asking him to re-think about any of it and focus on the shorter format," an associate of the national selection panel told Cricbuzz.
Mahmudullah since his debut in Test 2009 has played 49 Tests for Bangladesh and has 2764 runs with four centuries - which three of them came in 2018-19 - and 16 half centuries. However the allrounder comes with an average of only 15.57 in Test cricket since September 2019, with a highest of 39 against India in Kolkata.
