The Mahmudullah question

When Mahmudullah Riyad came into the crease during the Bangladesh innings, the match was not totally over. It was pretty much in England’s pocket, but yet, Bangladesh had a ray of lingering hope with the set Shakib Al Hasan.

Once the left-handed batter was out, that went out the window, which was helped by the intent Mahmudullah showed in his innings of 32 runs, where he played 49 balls, among which 25 were dots, leading to him ending his innings with a strike rate of 65.30.

However, that was Mahmudullah’s only miscontribution in the match as he was sloppy in the field too, giving away a boundary and missing out a chance to run Jos Buttler, who ended up scoring 76, out when he threw the ball at the bowler’s end at a speed that allowed the England skipper to get in.

Mahmudullah was once considered as a safe house in fielding but that status has changed over the years and nowadays it seems like the captain is looking to hide him in the field.

Even his batting has taken a dip. While his average is 44.38 in the last two years, higher than his career average of 35.55, his strike rate has dipped, which has been 71.4 in the last 24 months.

His last good innings was against India in the last series, where he scored 77 off 96 balls to give Mehidy Hasan Miraz support, but even in that, he took 74 balls to reach his half-century, and accelerating only after that.

While there are questions about him combining his batting and fielding, Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal is not ready to have at it as he pointed at the innings he played against India when asked.

“If you keep pressuring him, it’s not healthy for any team. I have to say that not just him, but we all have places where we all can improve, whether it’s fielding, batting, or bowling. I am the captain and I don’t like to single out players, whether they are guilty or not. I am here to save them, not accuse them,” the Bangladesh captain said.

With the World Cup fast approaching, and Tamim himself saying that they were not up to the mark on the field on Friday, the questions though keep popping up.