Mahmudullah's slow innings against England in the World Cup has lost him support inside the dressing room © Getty

Time is surely running out for Mahmudullah whose prolonged poor form continues to cost Bangladesh in the middle overs. He has scores of 3 and 6 in the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka, and is coming on the back of a lukewarm World Cup campaign that instead required him to step up like the senior players so often do for Bangladesh.

But it's not just the runs that have dried up. Mahmudullah also dropped a catch in the first ODI in Colombo in addition to other occasions of shoddy fielding in recent times, and isn't even contributing with the ball. He was known to break partnerships in his hay days but the 33-year-old hasn't bowled since sustaining a shoulder injury during Bangladesh's tour of New Zealand earlier in the year, an injury which kept him from bowling throughout the series. And it's assumed that he played the entire World Cup with that injury and now seems to have even lost some support in the dressing room.

His indifferent innings of 28 off 41 balls in the World Cup match against England led to differences in the dressing room, Cricbuzz has reliably learnt from sources. Shakib Al Hasan is said to have stayed away from team planning for most of the World Cup after captain Mashrafe Mortaza did not drop Mahmudullah on his insistence in the aftermath of the defeat to England at Cardiff.

"According to Shakib, Mahmudullah never showed any intent during the third game in the World Cup against England where he scored 41-ball 28 when Bangladesh probably needed around 190 runs from 20 overs. During that time inside the dressing room, everyone believed that the chase is very much possible but Mahmudullah's approach never seemed to be in pointing towards that direction and it was not taken very well by Shakib," the source told Cricbuzz.

It's also been learnt that Mahmudullah isn't too happy either with the support, or the apparent lack of it, he's been getting inside the dressing room from his teammates. His decision to avoid media interaction after the tri-series in Ireland was a conscious call. Even at the World Cup, he was extremely unhappy at being demoted to number six as he believed he had the potential to bat up the order. And once he lost his spot, he never looked in the right mental frame throughout the World Cup.

"Mahmudullah's behaviour inside the dressing room after battling against Afghanistan despite having a cramp was simply shocking as he created scene over his teammates for not recognizing his effort by clapping him when he returned back,'' the source added.

Mahmuddulah was actually expected to be rested for this tour of Sri Lanka after he made it through the World Cup with an injury but he was picked because both Shakib and Liton Das took leave for personal affairs to some extent. Given another lifeline, Mahmudullah has been disappointing in the series so far. He had the perfect platform in the second ODI coming in the 15th over with Bangladesh were 52 for 3 but he tried to play too many shots too early and lost his wicket to Akila Dananjaya, more inside the head than on the pitch.

Mahmudullah has often been touted as a member of the core cricket group that comprises of four other senior players: Tamim Iqbal, Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib. But while others have had reasonable amount of success, it is not the case with Mahmudullah. In terms of batting, he hasn't looked to be in the same league as Shakib, Tamim and Mushfiqur, each of whom have 6000 ODI runs whereas Mahmudullah is yet to cross 4000 runs. Even as a bowler, Mahmudullah never managed to show his full potential and has only picked 76 wickets across 183 matches.

Most teams go into a transition after every World Cup, and it's likely to be the case with Bangladesh too and whether Mahmudullah fits in the next plan of action is a question that remains unanswered for now. The team will soon begin a new era under a new leadership group and unless Mahmudullah mends ways drastically both on and off the field, it is unlikely he will be in that dressing room for long.