Tamim Iqbal will miss the upcoming Asia Cup as his recurring back injury is unlikely to heal in time. At the same time, he has stepped down as Bangladesh’s ODI captain to give more clarity to the team and the BCB ahead of the World Cup.
Tamim is now preparing to play the home ODI series against New Zealand which begins on September 21, in between the Asia Cup and World Cup.
Tamim’s decision to step down from the captaincy come less than a month after he withdrew his retirement from international cricket. Tamim had retired on July 6 but the following afternoon, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina requested him to reverse his decision.
Tamim said that he told the prime minister of his decision to step down as captain on Thursday, after which he had a long discussion with BCB president Nazmul Hassan and cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus at Hassan’s residence.
In that situation, Tamim said, giving up the captaincy was an “unselfish” option. “I think the [captaincy] journey has been fantastic. The results speak for themselves. I told Papon bhai [Hassan] that it would have been very selfish of me if I had stayed on as captain. Whoever knows me, knows that I put the team ahead of myself.”
Source – ESPNCricinfo
