Zimbabwe ODI's could be Mashrafe's swansong

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's possible retirement from international cricket came to the fore once again after the inclusion of two ODI matches in Bangladesh's home series against Zimbabwe.

The series is scheduled to take place in February instead of March and originally comprised with one Test and five T20 International matches.

However, the latest change of the itinerary saw the inclusion of two ODI matches here, raising the speculation whether those two ODIs were added to give Mashrafe a befitting farewell at a home ground.

Mashrafe, still the captain of the ODI team, played his last international match against Pakistan in the 2019 World Cup.

Though he was ready to play against Sri Lanka, in the last moments he had to opt out the three-match ODI series due to injury.

There were whispers about his retirement after the last match in the World Cup.

But at the last moment, he had to change his mind due to the insistence of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan Papon.

He said that Mashrafe will retire at home ground and if necessary they will organize a special ODI match for him.

Mashrafe hasn't been playing longer version cricket since 2009 and he has already retired from the T20I cricket.

The only format he is playing is ODI cricket.

Bangladesh has not played any ODI match after the World Cup at home and they only had three 50-over matches in Sri Lanka so far.

However, the BCB has not said anything officially about the retirement of Mashrafe.

Its media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said Mashrafe himself would take the decision of when he would walk into the sunset.

"We cannot decide anything about Mashrafe's retirement. He should take his own decision and he deserves a big farewell from us," he said.

There is also some confusion over Mashrafe's central contract as to whether he will be available for all the matches and that is very much in doubt due to his other commitments.

The BCB is set to announce the centrally contracted players' list within some days.

Shakib Al Hasan is set to lose his contract because he is serving the one-year ban imposed by ICC.