After an eventful career spanning 20 years, veteran right-arm pacer Mohammad Sharif announced his retirement from First-class cricket on Saturday.
He played 19 international matches, 10 Tests and nine ODIs for the Tigers but failed to establish himself as a regular member face of the national side mainly due to injuries. He started his career back in 2001.
In his long career, Sharif took 393 wickets in First-class cricket, a record for any Bangladeshi pacer. He appeared in 132 matches in the longest format of the game, which is also a record for any Bangladesh pace bowler.
”I have decided to quit from all form of cricket though I feel I could have played for another two years,” Sharif told on Saturday.
”I am looking forward to work with BCB in the coming days if there is a possibility as I want to share the experience that I have gathered during this long journey,” he said.
Sharif added that his shoulder injury played a big role behind this sudden decision as he feels there is no point playing cricket in this manner.
”Basically my shoulder injuries give me this kind of thought in my mind. Like I have 11 scores in the beep test, but then again I think my right shoulder injury is in 50-50 condition. So I don’t want to involve with any club with this condition,” said Sharif.
”If I get involved with any club in this condition then it would be cheating with the club. I don’t want to cheat the club. Like they will take me with lots of hope but if I can’t deliver my 100 percent then it would be very disappointing for them, as they could have had one more player in the place of mine. So my basic plan is not to waste a place, where another player can have the opportunity. It’s better not to play with this 50-50 chance,” he said.
Sharif played his last international match back in 2007. Since then, he failed to do anything remarkable to be considered for the national side again. Despite that, the right-arm pacer had been playing at the domestic level regularly.
