Tamim Iqbal Retired: Tamim Iqbal, the captain of Bangladesh’s one-day international team, announced his retirement from international cricket on Thursday (July 6), abruptly ending a 16-year career at the highest level. He melted in tear while announcement and quoted ‘I tried my Best’.
The veteran batsman was out for the lone Test against Afghanistan last month owing to a stiff back, but he was available for the ODI series. He played in the opening ODI on Wednesday, however, Tamim Iqbal has now announced his retirement with immediate effect. This significant choice is made barely three months before the India ODI World Cup.
In the 50-over format, Litton Das, the captain who took the helm against Afghanistan in the lone Test, is Tamim Iqbal’s stand-in; however, it is unclear whether he will also captain the team in ODIs.
Tamim had already announced his retirement from T20 Internationals around the same time in 2022, and the 34-year-old Bangladeshi star held a press conference to announce his decision this time. His most recent test was in April of last year against Ireland.
“This is the end for me. I have given my best. I have tried my best. I am retiring from international cricket from this moment,” Tamim first said in the press conference.
“Yesterday against Afghanistan was my last international game. It was not a sudden decision. I was thinking about the different reasons. I don’t want to mention here. I have spoken to my family members about it. I thought this is the right time for me to retire from international cricket,” he added.
Then Tamim Iqbal thanked the supporters as well as those who had continued to be important to his cricket career. The Bangladeshi celebrity emphasised that his “chapter has come to an end” and begged the media not to “poke” into the reasons behind the call.
“I need to thank a few people, which they deserve. (Pauses, and takes a deep breath). I have always said that I played cricket (long pause, deep breath) to fulfil my father’s dream. So I am not sure how much I have made him proud throughout these 16 years of my international career.”
“There are a lot of other people that I need to thank. My youngest chacha (uncle), his name is Akbar Khan. I held his hands to go to my first cricket tournament. I thank him and his family. I thank Tapan da, a coach in MA Aziz Stadium, (long pause, sobbing), who was my coach in my childhood,” he added.
“I thank all the players I played with from the U-13, U-15, U-17, U-19s, A team, Premier League, NCL and national team. Especially my national-team colleagues. The cricket board gave me the opportunity to represent the country for so long. I have captained Bangladesh too. I thank them as well.”
“I don’t have much to say. One thing I will definitely say is, I tried my best (sobbing). I did try my best. Maybe I was not good enough or good enough. I don’t know. But I tried my 100% whenever I was in the field,” he concluded.
He played in his 241st ODI on Wednesday, a format in which he scored 8313 runs, the highest for Bangladesh. Only Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have more runs among current players. Tamim Iqbal has played 70 Tests and has 5134 runs, which ranks second among batters from Bangladesh in the format.
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For more details head to ICC’s official website.