Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal announced his retirement from the International cricket today (Thursday), leaving everyone in shocked state.
The announcement came three months before the World Cup, a tournament for which Tamim devised an extensive plan along with head coach Chandika Hathurusingha.
A 16-year long glittering career, through which he entertained the cricket-mad nation, came to an end finally.
“This is the end for me. I have always tried to give my best. I am retiring from the International cricket from this moment,” a teary-eyed Tamim said in a hastily arranged press conference. “The first ODI against Afghanistan was my last International game.”
Tamim scored just 13, considered as unlucky number, in his last game as Bangladesh lost the game by 17 runs through DLS method at the hands of Afghanistan.
Tamim insisted that the decision didn’t come all of a sudden as he talked to his family members and close persons before announcing his retirement.
“It was not a sudden decision as you thought. I have spoken to my family members about it. I was thinking different reasons. I believe this is the high time for me to retire from the International cricket,” Tamim said.
But at the same time there also different reasons which he doesn’t want to mention.
“There are different reasons but I don’t want to mention those here.”
Tamim specially remembered his late father during this emotional moment.
“I need to thank a few people, which they deserve. I have always said that I played cricket to fulfil my father’s dream. So, I am not sure how much I have made him proud throughout these 16 years of my international career.”
Tamim’s back injury of late has become a hard part of his life. Due to the injury he missed one-off Test against Afghanistan and before the ODI series, he again complained about stiff back but said he would assess his fitness by playing the first ODI.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon, however, lashed out at Tamim for this statement.
In an interview with local media, he questioned Tamim’s integrity, saying how a player can assess his fitness by playing International cricket.
“I want to thank the cricket board to give me the opportunity to represent the country for so long. I have also led the side. One thing I will definitely say is that I tried my best. May be I was not good enough or good enough. I don’t know but whenever I was in the field, I tried to give my 100 percent,” Tamim said.
The BCB is yet to name Tamim’s successor. It is all but sure that Liton Das who was announced vice-captain for Afghanistan series only coincidentally just 24 hours before Tamim’s retirement, will lead the side. The BCB will decide the long term captain after this series and it is highly likely that Shakib Al Hasan will fill the role.
Tamim thanked all the people who were involved in his life during his cricketing journey.
“There are a lot of other people that I need to thank. My youngest chacha (uncle), his name is Akbar Khan. I held his hands to go to my first cricket tournament. I thank him and his family. I thank Tapan da, a coach in MA Aziz Stadium, (long pause, sobbing), who was my coach in my childhood. I thank all the players I played with from the U-13, U-15, U-17, U-19s, A team, Premier League, NCL and national team, especially, my national-team colleagues. The cricket board gave me the opportunity to represent the country for so long. I have captained Bangladesh too. I thank them as well.”
Tamim’s career in numbers
Tamim began his International career in 2007 with an ODI match against Zimbabwe in Harare. But he shot into the fame, hitting a match-winning half-century in Bangladesh’s iconic win against India in the World Cup in the West Indies.
He played 241 ODIs and finished with the most runs (8313) and hundreds (14) for Bangladesh, averaging 36.62. He has 56 fifties in this format. He is the third-highest run-scorer among current cricketers, behind Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
He made 5134 runs in 70 tests, the second highest for Bangladesh – at an average of 38.89, with ten centuries and 31 half-centuries.
Tamim has also featured in 87 T20Is, a format from which he retired in July 2022. He scored 1758 runs in the shortest format of the cricket with one century and averaging 24.08.
He quits the game not just as one of Bangladesh’s best all-format batters but also the only one from his country to score a century in all of tests, ODIs and T20Is.
As ODI captain, Tamim won 21 out of 37 matches and he led Bangladesh to a third-place finish in the ODI Super League, ensuring their direct qualification for the World Cup in India this October and November. He also captained Bangladesh in one Test match, against New Zealand in 2017. (BSS)
