Ashraful Hopeful of Return to National Team Even at 40

Former Bangladeshi captain Mohammad Ashraful said he's still optimistic about his return to the national side.

The right-handed batsman, who will soon turn 36, said he will try to make a comeback for more than three or four years.

Ashraful played his last international game in 2013. He was subsequently omitted from the national establishment due to his involvement in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match-fixing scandal.

Ashraful served a punishment of three years after he was found guilty and returned to domestic cricket in 2018, but struggled to perform well. He never lost his confidence, however.

Ashraful, the youngest Test centurion on debut, believes if a batsman has good fitness and perform well, he can play international cricket even at 40.

"We've seen a lot of players playing at the international level even after 40. If you look at Shoaib Malik (Pakistan), he played his first international match in 1999, and he's still playing. So this isn't impossible. I'm still going to keep striving to get back to the national team for the next 3-4 years, "Ashraful said in a recent interview.

“I started playing in international cricket when I was just 17. Many of my former teammates became selectors or coach. But I believe I still have plenty of cricket in me. I will definitely try my best in the coming years (to make a comeback),” he added.

In his last international series till date, Ashraful hit 190 runs against Sri Lanka at Colombo. In the same match, Mushfiqur Rahim registered the maiden double-ton for Bangladesh in Test.

After coming back to play competitive cricket serving a three-year ban, Ashraful hit five List-A centuries in 2018, but that was not enough to convince the selectors to consider him for the national team.

Ashraful played 177 ODIs, 61 Tests and 23 T20Is for the Tigers. He amassed 3,468, 2,737, 450 runs respectively in ODIs, Tests and T20Is. He also hit nine centuries in international cricket along with the highest individual score of 190 runs.

The right-handed batsman cemented his place in Bangladesh’s cricket history hitting a ton on his Test debut. He also drew the attention of the cricketing world smashing a match-winning century against Australia back in 2015 in England. That was only the second ODI century for a Bangladesh batsman.

Source: UNB