With no action going around right now, several cricketers have been doing live sessions on social media to keep themselves busy. Bangladesh all-rounder Mahmudullah also followed suit and attended a Facebook live chat programme ‘Life is beautiful’ organized by a local television channel named ‘Jamuna Television’ on Tuesday.
During the conversation, Mahmudullah named Indian skipper Virat Kohli as one of the best three batsmen in world cricket. Kohli is currently the only batter, who averages above 50 in all three formats of the game. Having notched over 21,000 runs, the Delhi-born is, well and indeed, on his way to be counted amongst the all-time greats.
The other two best batsmen, Mahmudullah picked were Pakistan’s limited-overs skipper Babar Azam and Bangladesh wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim.
Babar has arguably been his team’s standout batsman across formats. After shining in the white-ball cricket, the Lahore-born has started to find his feet even in Tests. Mushfiqur, on the other hand, is Bangladesh’s leading run-scorer in Test cricket. He has been a stalwart for the Tigers in their middle order. The Bogra-born has amassed over 11,500 runs in international cricket with the help of 14 centuries and 146 half-centuries.
Mahmudullah further picked Shakib Al Hasan, Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam as his favourite three spinners in the current Bangladesh team. Mahmudullah even said that he would have loved to face former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar when the latter was at his best.
“I didn’t play against Shoaib Akhtar. But I played one match against him but did not face him. I think I wanted to face him. It would be obviously challenging as well,” he said. “He was the quickest bowler in his prime time. It would be challenging facing him, and I like taking challenges as well,” the Bangladesh T20I skipper added.
As far as Mahmudullah is concerned, he has been an asset for Bangladesh Tigers for over a decade. In 49 Tests, 188 ODIs and 87 T20Is, he has scored 2764, 4070 and 1475 runs respectively. He also has seven centuries and 41 half-centuries to his name.
