Bangladesh cricket has seen a phenomenal rise in the last decade or so. There are a few players who have been trailblazers for Bangladesh in this journey of metamorphosis. The left-handed opener Tamim Iqbal has been leading at the forefront. His role in making Bangladesh a competitive side has been immense. He has been the most consistent batter for his team, giving impactful starts at the top and anchoring the batting order on most occasions. Not just in one format, he has remained as an integral part of the team in all three formats of the game. The swashbuckling left-hander turned 35 today.
Tamim Iqbal broke into the Bangladesh team in 2007. First, he made his debut in the ODI format in February and later went on to be a part of the T20 team in September that year. He played his maiden ODI match against Zimbabwe at Harare. Whereas, his first game in the shortest format was against Kenya. Tamim was always a talented top-order batter and it was very evident right from the beginning. His potential earned him a place in the Test team as well. In a few months, he was playing his first Test match against New Zealand at Dunedin.
Changemaker
In the last few years, Bangladesh has become a very threatening batting side and this change was ushered in by Tamim Iqbal. Being an opener, it was his responsibility to lead the batting order and the left-hander did that to perfection. Another trait that makes Tamim one of Bangladesh’s all-time greats is his ability to perform in high-pressure situations.
The 35-year-old played 70 Tests for Bangladesh, with 5134 runs to his name at an average of 38.89. In ODI cricket he has represented his country 243 times. Tamim has amassed 8357 runs in the 50-over format along with an impressive 14 centuries and 56 half-centuries. The Bangladesh veteran finds himself out of favour at the moment but there are still a lot of cricketers left in him and Bangladesh fans would be hoping that their talisman makes a strong comeback and serve them with some extraordinary batting performances.
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