24 hours after he announced his shock retirement from international cricket, Bangladesh opener and former captain Tamim Iqbal has made a U-turn and has decided to continue to play for his country after a personal meeting with Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Tamim Iqbal had led Bangladesh in the first ODI of the series against Afghanistan, which his side lost. On Friday, then, he announced he will retire from all international cricket (he had retired from T20Is last year). This was a big news and something which the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) couldn’t come to terms with as Tamim was their captain and heavily involved in the planning for the upcoming Asia Cup and World Cup 2023.
Tamim Iqbal withdraws his retirement after meeting with Bangladesh PM
Tamim Iqbal was invited by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her residence. In the meeting, along with Tamim and the PM were present the cricketer’s wife, also former skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and BCB president Nazmul Hassan, who had on Saturday blasted Tamim for his sudden retirement.
After the meeting, outside PM’s residence, Tamim Iqbal confirmed that he’s withdrawing his retirement and will participate in the Asia Cup and World Cup 2023.
Meanwhile, the BCB had named Liton Das to captain the team in the remainder of the two ODIs vs Afghanistan after Tamim Iqbal retired. Now, with the left-hander saying that he will play, he is expected to captain the side again.
Earlier, Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, had said that he was hopeful Tamim will change his retirement decision, and it is reported that he requested the PM and Mortaza to meet with Tamim and convince him to play again.
In the midnight press conference, Nazmul said:
“I told his brother Nafees that he should at least captain the side in this series [against Afghanistan],” he said. “We will discuss things after the series. Then I said that a legendary cricketer shouldn’t take such a decision. He is an important member of the side. Nafees said that he conveyed the message, but there was no reply. I have to wait for his response, I am hopeful that he will contact me.
“We need him in the ODI side. I will wait for him to change the decision. I will still say that we need him in the Asia Cup and World Cup teams. We will wait for him. I didn’t expect such a decision from him. He told me that he wanted to play till the 2025 Champions Trophy. We made him the captain. We cannot think about it differently. We didn’t have a reason to think differently.”
