Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Mortaza was expected to confirm his retirement thoughts post World Cup 2019 in England, but an official confirmed on Saturday (August 17) that Mortaza has now requested the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for two more months for finalizing his plans.

The 35-year-old missed the Sri Lanka tour of Bangladesh due to a hamstring injury in which the tigers took on the Sri Lankans for a three match ODI series which they eventually lost 3-0. After this ODI series in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh are not scheduled to play an ODI until next year.

But last week, BCB revealed that they were planning to organize a one-off ODI at home against Zimbabwe in September which could also be a farewell match for Mashrafe. Zimbabwe will be visiting Bangladesh next month to play a tri-nation Twenty20 tournament involving the hosts and Afghanistan.

This plan of Mashrafe’s farewell match has been shelved after he requested more time for finalizing his plans as the BCB president Nazmul Hassan said, “He sought two months to make his final decision and we said that is fine.”

The right-arm fast bowling all-rounder who has 1786 runs to his name in 217 ODIs has better figures with the ball as he has 266 wickets with a decent economy of 4.87. It is the same in the longest format of the game as Mortaza has 797 runs to go with 78 wickets in 36 test matches.

He even entered the politics last year and won a seat as a member of parliament in the general election. He has also been running the Narail Express Foundation charity which donates ambulances to hospitals and seeds to poor farmers.

(With AFP inputs)