'Emotional and Hasty': BCB President Urges Tamim Iqbal To Reverse Retirement Decision
Tamim Iqbal speaking at a press conference on Thursday [Twitter]
In a shocking decision, Bangladesh's batter Tamim Iqbal announced his international retirement on Thursday, putting the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) Cricket World Cup 2023 plans in a spanner, which is just three months away.
The CWC 2023 is due in October and will be played in India between October 5 and November 19. Iqbal announced the decision midway through the ongoing three-match One-Day International (ODI) series against visiting Afghanistan, who lead the series 1-0, winning the first encounter on Wednesday.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan after an emergency meeting late Thursday night, urged Iqbal to reverse his retirement and not act in haste and take an emotional decision.
As quoted by Cricbuzz, Hasan is as shocked about the 34-year-old's retirement, having spoken to the prolific batter just a few days prior about his future with Bangladesh cricket.
Here's what Hasan said
"I am trying to communicate with him since the morning and later tried with Nafees Iqbal (Tamim's brother and manager of Bangladesh team) but still could not get hold of him. At that point, I sent a message to Nafees stating that I want him to lead the side in this series and later we can sit and discuss what can be done. A legendary cricketer like him should not take hasty and emotional decision and he is very important for the team,"
As per BCB, Litton Das will take over the reins for the remainder of the ongoing series against Afghanistan, with Rony Talukdar being roped into the squad as Iqbal's replacement.
The BCB president also revealed that Iqbal has talked about playing ODI till the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan and was assured of leading Bangladesh in CWC 2023.
"I did not have any clue that this kind of decision can come. I have spoken with him personally about his future and he said that he will play till the next Champions Trophy and later he spoke about World Cup captaincy with Jalal bhai (BCB cricket operation chairman) and I told him that he is the captain,"
Overall, between 2007 and 2023, Iqbal appeared in 389 international matches for Bangladesh amassing 15,205 runs with 25 centuries and 94 fifties.
 "Vishal Mehra")
