Former Bangladesh ODI skipper, Tamim Iqbal, recently, came forward to shock the cricketing fraternity and announced that he would be taking his retirement from the sport with immediate effect. In an emotional press conference, Tamim announced his retirement after Bangladesh’s recent loss in the first ODI of the series against Afghanistan.
However, following the sudden announcement of his retirement, sources close to the situation stated that the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, summoned him for an impromptu chat with him and will even discuss his decision to retire.
Tamim did not mention the reason for his sudden retirement, however, many sources stated that the recent comments of Bangladesh’s cricket board members made him feel like the senior cricketers were not needed in the team anymore. However, the same has yet to be confirmed.
Tamim left Chattogram for Dhaka recently and will be travelling to Dubai on July 28 with his family. He is expected to meet the Prime Minister anytime on Friday, July 7.
Bangladesh look to comeback in the series
Talking about the ongoing series between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, both sides locked horns in the ODI series after their only Test match, which Bangladesh won in a dominant fashion. However, they were faced with a completely different Afghanistan team in the ODI game.
As rain played spoilsport throughout several stages of the game, the match was shortened quite a bit. In the 43 overs that were played, Bangladesh notched up 169 runs on the board, as Afghanistan did a commendable job with the ball and limited the hosts to a subpar total.
Aiming to chase the target down, Afghanistan lost only two wickets and scored 83 runs in 21.4 overs before rain interrupted play once again. As the DLS rule came into play, the visitors were named the winners of the game by 17 runs.
As the second ODI of the series approaches, Bangladesh will look to heavily improve on their performances if they are looking to win the ODI series as well.