Sports Desk:

It had not happened in the last eighteen years. For the first time in his career, Mashrafe Mortaza’s availability has turned into the million dollar question.

Apart from injury, most of the time he was available but certainly not this time round though time is running out for him considering the present circumstances.

Bangladesh selection panel is at dark regarding his availability as they don’t have any clear information about him and his whereabouts.

Bangladesh will have to play three ODIs after the lone Test against Zimbabwe at Sylhet respectively in March 1, March 3 and March 6 but the team management cannot make a roadmap for the series as they are not sure about the present status of their inspirational leader.

“We are not sure whether he is available or not because we don’t have any information about his fitness and all as he has not reported to Julian about the state of his fitness,” Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Chief Selector Minhajul Abedin told daily sun on Monday.

“Apart from that the board will have to announce the captain first because unless that is done we cannot make any comment on the issue of his availability,” he said.

Mashrafe is recently seen partaking in gym sessions and running regularly at BCB Academy Premises and it indicates that he is preparing himself to play competitive cricket irrespective of it status- international or domestic.

If he is not considered for the national team, he is expected to feature in Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, country’s traditional Dhaka-based club’s 50-over tournament.

According to BCB sources, Mashrafe is expected to sit with BCB high-ups within a day or two regarding his future though some influential figure inside the board insisted that they have made up their mind about Mashrafe.

“Probably he will be offered to retire in front of his home crowd and be made part of the ODI squad against Zimbabwe. If he is ready to accept the proposal than it’s alright otherwise our board President is likely to make the final call about him,” said a source involved with the entire development regarding Mashrafe.

Russell Domingo is set to sit down with Mashrafe Mortaza to seek some clarity about ODI captain’s future as his first meeting did not turned out to be successful as BCB is desperate for some clarity on Mortaza’s future.

The retirement talks of Mashrafe have making the rounds since ICC World Cup 2019 but neither BCB nor Mortaza have been able to finalise anything. Mortaza has decided to withdraw his name from the list of nationally contracted cricketers for 2020 but insisted that he wants to continue playing cricket and isn’t expecting a farewell.