Ahead of the coming Zimbabwe tour and more importantly the World Cup, questions have raised if the national selectors have any plan about the former national skipper's fate following their confusion over his service, especially in the one-day side, as they had him sidelined for the country's last four one-day internationals.

Many have said, though off the record, that his batting is simply futile for one-day cricket, especially when he holds a very important batting position as a wicketkeeper-cum batsman, but the 30-year-old Rajshahi man hit back on his critics saying that it was not all downhill.

"Bangladesh played 28 one-dayers last year and most against opponents like Zimbabwe, Kenya and Scotland where I had little opportunity to bat. I don't think my performances in those few matches were quite bad to draw a conclusion about my batting," the veteran stumper justified his demand.

"I played a crucial knock against Zimbabwe in Harare, so how can one claim that my days are over?" he asked. The right-hander scored a valuable unbeaten 48, his highest score in the last season, in Bangladesh's 62-run victory in the second match against Zimbabwe last August.

Mashud, who has an average of 21.90 in his 126 ODI appearances, played 24 matches out of Bangladesh's 28, scoring 282 runs in the 16 innings where he got the chance to bat, averaging 28.72.

But the question was raised specially after his show against West Indies in the ICC Champions Trophy, where his batting looked so poor during a 59-ball 22, and against Zimbabwe in Bogra when he had looked completely out of touch to fulfil the team's demand with a 28-ball 11.

"I agree that I failed to fulfil the team's demand in the last couple of matches but it can happen to any player. But it is not true that I have completely lost my touch," he explained.

Mashud, still unparalleled behind the stumps, cleared his position saying that he was not thinking to quit the limited version after World Cup.

"I am still fit enough and I have the self-belief that I still have a long way to go to serve the team. I know performance is the key to keep place in the team and I am ready to take the challenge," said a confident Mashud.

"Yes, I can only give up the fight if anyone flings a real challenge to me. There is no one who showed extraordinary performance for me to think about quitting one-day cricket," he said.

No doubt, the experienced campaigner was indicating towards his possible replacement -- Mushfiqur Rahim who has failed to make any impression so far in his short international and domestic career -- for the specialist job. It should also be noticed that he played his matches against the minnows -- teams who are nowhere near the big guns of international cricket.

Mashud also could not understand why he was sidelined in the last four one-day internationals.

"The national team is not a development squad where you try a player to groom for future. I don't think there is any reason right at the moment not to think of me as an automatic choice," he said.