Home ›› 28 Jan 2022 ›› Sport
Tamim Iqbal has become a synonym for tantrums when it comes to his selection for the T20 national team as the left-handed opener once again put the selectors in a fix.
Tamim, who is playing in the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League for Minister Dhaka, told the media on Thursday that he will be taking a break from T20Is for six months.
“For the upcoming six months, I will not be even thinking about T20Is. I will only be focusing on Tests and one-day Internationals,” he told the media in Chattogram.
Tamim has not been playing T20Is for Bangladesh since March 9, 2020, and despite playing in domestic and franchise tournaments, he opted out of national T20 duty multiple times.
After his last T20I appearance, Tamim played three matches for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League’s play-off stage in 2020.
Later, he played in the Bangabandhu T20 cup in November-December of 2020 for Fortune Barishal, where he was the second-highest run-scorer.
Still, he refused to play in the T20 series against New Zealand. He was the captain of the ODI team and played all three matches of the series but opted out of the imminent three-match T20I series for personal reasons.
But he took part in the Dhaka Premier League, held in T20 format considering the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, where he sustained an injury and skipped the Super League stage.
Tamim then travelled to Zimbabwe without gaining full fitness. He was overlooked in the solitary Test but played all three matches of the ODI series and then pulled out of the T20 series.
Injury and bio-secure protocol refrained Tamim from taking part in the T20I series against Australia and New Zealand at home, and on September 1, he declared his unavailability in the T20 World Cup 2021.
“I don’t think I should be in the World Cup team. There are a few reasons why I am not available for the tournament. Game time is the biggest reason. I haven’t played this format in a long time,” he said.
Despite not taking part in the T20 WC, Tamim played in the Everest Premier League in Nepal, where his endeavour ended prematurely due to injury.
Tamim also missed the T20 series at home against Pakistan, but the Bangladesh Cricket Board owned Dhaka franchise picked him in their first call during the BPL’s player draft, where he had a price tag of Tk 70 lakhs.
Since his last T20I appearance, Tamim has so far played 32 T20s across various domestic and franchise-based tournaments at home and abroad.
Tamim did not even make it clear whether he would be playing T20I for Bangladesh or not. Rather, he hinted that he might try to stage a comeback before the ICC T20 WC 2022.
“I hope that in the next six months, some young fellows will do so well that the board will not think about considering me for T20Is again. But still, if any such situation comes, when the board or the selectors or the team management thinks that my service is badly required, I will think about it. But I am not thinking about it in six months,” said the left-handed opener.
“If needed, I will be back before the World Cup,” he added.
