Tamim announces international retirement ahead of World Cup
Tamim Iqbal, Cricfrenzy
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Tamim: You’ll still see me for a couple of years
7 Feb 25
Tamim Iqbal calls time on his 16 years of international career ahead of the ODI World Cup as he made his sudden retirement announcement at a hotel in Chittagong on Thursday afternoon.
The 34-year-old's retirement from all forms of cricket will be effective from today, he won't participate in the remaining of the Afghanistan series.
He led the team in the first ODI of the series against Afghanistan on Wednesday, that match in his hometown was the end of his career. The left-handed opener bid farewell midway through the series.
Tiger’s best opener was crying while talking about farewell. He is seen wiping his tears with his head down. He also said that the decision was not taken hastily.
"Yesterday's [Wednesday] match against Afghanistan was the last match of my career. From this moment I bid farewell to international cricket. The decision is not taken hastily. I have been thinking for a long time. I have also spoken to the family about it" said Tamim.
Tamim has been suffering from back injury in recent times and he gave a statement before the start of the first ODI against Afghanistan, where he said that he was not 100 percent fit and that he would assess his condition after playing the first game, did not go down well with the board.
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According to media reports, coach Chandika Hathurusingha spoke with Nazmul Hasan Papon and expressed his displeasure with the entire situation before the first game.
At the end of dilemma, Tamim took the hard decision ahead of his possible last World Cup and Bangladesh Cricket Board will now have to name new captain for the extravaganza.
In 2017, Tamim got his first taste of captaincy for the country by leading the Christchurch Test due to the injury of regular captain Mushfiqur Rahim during the tour of New Zealand.
He led Sri Lanka for three consecutive ODIs in the 2019 World Cup after Mashrafe bin Mortaza was injured. After Mashrafe left the leadership in 2020, he also got the responsibility of the ODI team.
In all, he has led in 37 ODIs, winning 21 of them. He is the most successful Bangladesh captain in terms of success percentage among cricketers who have led at least 5 ODIs.
The Southpaw scored 5134 runs at an average of 38.89 in 70 Tests next to his name with ten centuries and 31 fifties as he is Bangladesh's second highest scorer and century in Tests.
He played 241 ODIs and scored 8,313 runs at an average of 36.62. He hit 56 fifties next to 14 centuries. In this edition, he is on top of everyone in this format, centuries, fifties, everything for the country.
With 1758 runs in 78 matches, he said goodbye to the international T20 last July. He is the only centurion of the country in this edition.
He is the only batter in the country to score 15 thousand runs in three editions. His century in international cricket is 25. No one else has scored 20 centuries for Bangladesh.
