DHAKA, —Bangladesh players gave a ‘guard of honour’ to senior player Mahmudullah Riyad on the eve of the fifth and final day of the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, hinting that the rumours of his retirement after this game would come true.

Mahmudullah helped Bangladesh to post a mammoth 468 runs in the first innings, hitting his career-best 150 not out. On day three of the game after this ton, he reportedly told his teammates in the dressing room that he finally proved his worth in Test cricket and now wants to retire from this format.

When it was just rumour, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon fuelled it further, saying his decision as shocking and surprising in the midst of a Test, which he thought would disturb the team’s environment.

Mahmudullah later on that day talked during the post match but didn’t reveal anything about his retirement. However the ‘guard of honour’ from the teammates fuelled the talk about his retirement further.

Mahmudullah’s Test career seemed to be over after he was going through a patchy form in the last 10 Test innings and also was dismissed like an apprentice cricketer quite a few times, which left the team in troublesome situations in the Test match against Afghanistan and Pakistan. The defeat against Afghanistan, the new Test nation, was a black mark in Bangladesh’s cricket.

He was only called up in this format after 18 months following the injury scare of Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim. After Tamim was ruled out of the Test, he made the cut in the final XI.

It was, however, his 50th Test. He scored 2914 runs with five centuries and 16 half-centuries in this format.