Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal announces shock retirement three months before ODI World Cup

Tamim Iqbal (Pic: AFP)

Bangladesh's one-day international captain Tamim Iqbal on Thursday announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket with immediate effect. The development comes a day after several reports claimed an alleged 'difference of opinion' between him and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan and Chandika Hathurusingha over the opener's fitness.

"Yesterday against Afghanistan was my last international game. I am retiring from international cricket effective right now," an emotional Tamim told reporters at a press conference.

It is believed that Tamim's back issue flared up before the one-off Test against Afghanistan, causing him to warm the bench, though he looked fit for the first ODI.

Tamim, however, was dismissed cheaply and, as a result, Bangladesh lost the ODI series via the D/L method. Of late, his batting form and captaincy have come under severe criticism by many stalwarts of the game. His fitness inconsistency was a major roadblock as he ended up missing several matches recently.

Although Bangladesh have been doing well under him in ODIs, several reports have been doing rounds about Tamim's alleged rift with the cricket board. In fact, the BCB president Nazmul, in February, opened up about the 'rift' between Tamim and his long-time friend and teammate Shakib al Hasan.

In ODIs, Bangladesh won 21 matches out of 35 completed matches under his captaincy. Tamim retired as Bangladesh's most prolific ODI batter with 8313 runs at an average of 36.6 in 239 innings with the help of 14 hundreds and 56 fifties. In 70 Tests, he has 5134 runs at 38.9 with 10 hundreds and 31 fifties. He retired from T20Is in 2021, where he remains the only Bangladesh batter to score a hundred. He scored 1758 runs at a strike-rate of 116.96 in the 20-over international format.

(With agency inputs)