Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad emerged as the 'Five Stars' under the aegis of the Bangladesh National Cricket Team.
These players stood shoulder to shoulder, fought together, led the team out of peril, and secured victories. However, one by one, their journeys are coming to unexpected conclusions.
Shakib Al Hasan bid farewell on Thursday. Now, only Mushfiq and Riyad remain, ‘akin to the sons of Haradhan’.
Before the Kanpur Test on Thursday, Shakib announced his retirement from T20 cricket. If circumstances permit, he will play his final Test in Mirpur in October. However, there is uncertainty surrounding this. If all goes well, Bangladesh's finest cricket star will conclude his career with the Champions Trophy in February.
Former captain Mashrafe joined the national team in 2001. Mushfiq, Shakib, Tamim, and Riyad followed in 2006 and 2007. They played together for a long time, but their endings were neither as desired nor expected.
Mashrafe, the nation's best captain, could not retire on the field. After the 2019 World Cup, the new coach Russell Domingo invited him for coffee, but the meeting never took place. He has effectively 'auto-retired'. Tamim Iqbal was supposed to lead the team in last year's World Cup. However, just before the tournament, he tearfully announced his retirement. Despite this, he did not return to the field.
The two remaining Pandavas have also seen their careers wane. Riyad was excluded from Test cricket. In 2021, he made a comeback in the Zimbabwe series and announced his retirement after scoring 150 runs. He was later dropped from both ODI and T20 formats but made a return. He played in the ODI series in 2023 and the T20 World Cup in 2024. How long he can continue his career remains uncertain. Similarly, Mushfiqur Rahim ended his T20 career on a disappointing note. He continues to play Tests and ODIs as a key team member. However, at 39, Riyad and 38-year-old Mushfiq are nearing the end of their careers. Their final chapters are unfolding, albeit without the same level of concern as Tamim and Shakib.
