Bangladesh ODI Captain Tamim Iqbal Announces T20I Retirement

The 33-year-old Bangladesh National Cricket Team One Day International (ODI) captain and star opening batsman, Tamim Iqbal, has announced his retirement from T20 Internationals (T20I) cricket.

Iqbal made his retirement announcement shortly after the conclusion of the ODI series against the West Indies National Cricket Team. Tamim Iqbal led Bangladesh to a 3-0 series win over Nicholas Pooran and Co. in Guyana.

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The star opener also won the Player of the Series Award for his brilliant performances throughout the three-match ODI series against the West Indies National Cricket Team.

After the match, at around 6 pm local time, he took to Facebook to share a short message in Bangla saying:

“Please consider me retired from T20 internationals from today. Thanks everyone.”

Tamim Iqbal last played a T20I game in 2020 against Zimbabwe and since then he had kept himself away from this format. He also pulled out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 to give Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Naim a long run as openers.

Tamim Iqbal Took A Six-month Break From T20Is In January

The star Bangladesh opener Iqbal took a six-month break from T20Is on January 27. However, he played a domestic T20 tournament during this period. He had said that his focus will be on Tests and ODIs and he would not be thinking about the shortest format of the game.

“My full focus will be on Tests and ODIs. We are preparing for the World Test Championship and qualification for the 2023 World Cup. I will not be thinking about T20Is in the next six months. I hope that those playing will do so well, that the team won’t need me in T20Is. But if God forbid the team or cricket board needs me, and I am ready, I will possibly think about it,” Tamim said on January 27 this year.

Tamim Iqbal played 78 T20 Internationals in his career, scoring 1758 runs at an average of 24.08 and a strike rate of 117.2. He remains the only centurion from Bangladesh in the T20I format and he finished as their third highest run-getter in this format.

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