Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal has announced that he will not play international Twenty20 cricket for the next six months. He announced at a press conference at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram yesterday (January 27).
After recent discussions with top BCB officials, Tamim announced that, including BCB president Nazmul Hassan, they tried to prevent him from making the decision. For the last 12 months, Tamim has been far away from the Bangladesh T20I team.
Finally, Tamim told the media yesterday that he has had meetings with many members of the board over the last few days, such as the BCB president and the head of the cricket operations committee, Jalal Yunus, and Kazi Inam Ahmed. They want him to continue the T20I game until the next T20 World Cup. But his statement was different.
He said he was not considering international Twenty20 cricket for the next six months. In these six months, his focus will be on Tests and ODIs. With the Test Championship and the World Cup 2023 looming, there is a matter of preparation, and that’s why he wants to focus on these two formats.
He added that after six months, if there comes a time when the cricket board, selectors, or team management thinks that they need him before the World Cup, they will discuss it if needed and if he is ready. So, he will not think about the International Twenty20 for the next six months. He also believes that the players who will play in his place in these six months will play so well that he will no longer be needed.
Tamim is the third-highest run-scorer for Bangladesh in T20Is. He played 78 T20I matches for Bangladesh, where he scored 1758 runs at an average of 24.08 and a strike rate of 117.2. He is the only batsman to score a century for Bangladesh in this format. He has also played four T20I matches for the World XI. He played three against Pakistan in 2017 and one against West Indies at Lord’s in 2018.