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Shakib Al Hasan Breaks Silence On Tamim Iqbal Rift; Blames BCB President For Overhype

Shakib, Tamim don't talk to each other (X.com)Shakib, Tamim don't talk to each other (X.com)

Ever since Tamim Iqbal was dropped from Bangladesh's squad for the ODI World Cup last year, his relationship with Shakib Al Hasan has emerged as the talk of the town. The duo don't talk to each other for a while, and there have been plenty of speculations about why it happened and when it happened.

In a documentary aired by Bongo, a leading OTT platform in Bangladesh, Shakib finally broke his silence regarding the controversy, which created a lot of drama. The veteran all-rounder attacked Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) president, Nazmul Hassan Papon, who first brought the topic to the public.

"This thing [the relationship between Tamim and Shakib] came to focus after Papon [Nazmul Hassan] Bhai spoke about it and it created a lot of problem on the relationship and created this situation," Shakib said in the documentary. "I think some people had the intention to keep it [the rift] in focus and tried to make it as the main point [of discussion] rather than the cricketing side."

Further, Shakib explained what exactly happened, and for which reason it all began. His statements were fair enough, and there is no reason to make a big deal out of it.

"For quite some time we were not talking a lot. [But] it is not right that we were not on talking terms. The thing is, there was a time when we used to be together all the time but that relationship was not there for quite some time. It is very natural... I got married and he got married, we were staying separately in different places and so there was very lesser time between us. We were staying in the same building in different floors [earlier] so certainly that closeness starts to diminish as people start having separate family life and over time [the relationship] changed due to our busy schedules," Shakib added.

In addition, Shakib mentioned that even though they did not talk much enough lately, it did not 'harm' the dressing room at all.

"There is nothing like making it good or bad [as far as the relationship with Tamim is concerned]. Till we played together and shared the dressing room together I don't think any incident took place that would harm the team. We tried to contribute whether we were talking or not, there was no kind of problem inside the field or in the dressing room," Shakib was quoted as saying.

In all, Shakib admitted there was a mistake from him last year. The 37-year-old felt he should have cleared things out before leaving for India for the ODI World Cup 2023.

"I did not try to give any message through that interview as it was certainly spontaneous and I felt that before going to the World Cup I should clear everything so that people know what actually happened and why this kind of situation is created," he finished the topic by saying this.

Shakib will next be in action later tonight when Bangladesh will face the Netherlands in Match 27 of T20 World Cup 2024 at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent.