Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal has been part of many controversies in the year 2023. The left-handed batsman has now urged the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to not include him in the central contract list. The information was shared by the BCB‘s cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus.
While addressing a press conference at the Sher e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur, Jalal Yunus explained that Tamim Iqbal has urged BCB to not include him in the central contract list and will soon meet the president after the national elections.
Tamim Iqbal moves out of Bangladesh’s centrally contracted players
Jalal Yunus said (as quoted by The Daily Star), “He has his own plan and he has requested not to include him now in the new central contract. He is supposed to meet with our board president [Nazmul Hassan Papon] after national election and only after that he will finalise his future plan.”
Tamim Iqbal announced retirement from international cricket in July last year, however, he reversed his decision after meeting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Haseena. Iqbal resigned from Bangladesh’s ODI captaincy and was rested from the ODI format.
Tamim Iqbal also opted out of the 2023 Asia Cup due to a back injury. However, he was expected to return ahead of the home ODI series against New Zealand in September and then play the 2023 ODI World Cup. Though, this didn’t happen, and Iqbal missed both events.
The Tamim Iqbal-Shakib Al Hasan feud
After Tamim Iqbal missed the 2023 ODI World Cup, there was an open feud between Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Iqbal. At one end, Tamim missed out on the World Cup squad due to his injury concerns, Shakib was miffed with the Bangladeshi opener and stated that he is not a ‘team man’.
Shakib Al Hasan had advised Tamim Iqbal to play in the middle order, which was not liked by Iqbal and he rejected the proposal. Shakib then called Tamim’s behavior ‘childish’ and also asked him to learn from Indian captain Rohit Sharma.
Shakib Al Hasan had said while speaking to a Dhaka-based channel: “I am sure someone who is authorized had said this (to Tamim). I am sure whoever has said it, he thought of the team. A lot of things go into building a combination for a match. So if someone has said this to him, was it wrong? Or we can’t make such a proposal? I am just going to tell someone that you can do whatever you want. Is the team first or the individual?”.
“Someone like Rohit Sharma built his career from No. 7 to opener, scored 10,000-plus runs. If he sometimes bats at No 3 or 4, would it be a big problem? It is totally childish. It is my bat, I will play. No one else can play. A player should bat at any position for the team. Team first. It doesn’t make any difference if you have made 100 or 200, and the team loses. What can you do with personal achievement? You want to make a name for yourself?”.
Tamim Iqbal has played a total of 391 matches in his international career, wherein he has scored 15249 runs at an average and strike rate of 35.21 and 72.62 respectively.