Bangladesh men’s team ODI captain Tamim Iqbal caused a buzz in the cricketing fraternity and social media platforms stepping into the commentary box for the first time. The left-handed opener took the microphone for a few overs during the Eliminator game between Chattogram Challengers and Khulna Tigers in the ongoing Bangbandhu Bangladesh Premier League T20 at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.
Considered as one of the best speakers in the Bangladesh dressing room, Tamim spoke alongside prominent commentators Athar Ali Khan and Ed Rainsford. Tamim during his stint avoided speaking hard on technicalities of the game between Khulna and Chottogram and was rather answering to questions coming from Athar and Rainsford.
Speaking to the media personals sitting next to commentary box at SBNS, Tamim mentioned the Bangladesh commentators should also be appreciated for their effort to back the team at international level when things are not right. The Bangladesh batsman further said commentary can be an option to look for in future, after retirement.
“I had a meeting with officials in the board so I was requested if I could join the commentary for a few overs today [Monday]. The broadcasters had requested me earlier too, during the home series against Pakistan [in November-December last year]. So, I thought of trying it today and speak a bit alongside Athar bhai and others. It is interesting but honestly, I did not do the actual commentary rather I was speaking more about myself and Bangladesh cricket. But it has been interesting and something to look for in future probably. For now, I do not have any thoughts about this,” said Tamim to the media on Monday.
“It is not important for me to get appreciation from them [the commentators] but it is important for us [cricketers] to speak for them. This [commentary] is one sector we do not speak much about but if you think of it whenever Bangladesh fails to perform or when we used to perform badly on regular basis four or five years back, this Athar bhai and Shamim bhai worked as pillar, backed us with their voice against the world. They have never let Bangladesh done and always spoke for the country. So, we should appreciate them and that’s I have mentioned while speaking on the mic,” the batter added.
Tamim’s journey in the ongoing BBPL T20 finished early after his team Minister Group Dhaka failed to make to the play-offs of the tournament. Dhaka team, managed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board [BCB] this season, finished with only nine points in the competition but Tamim had a magnificent season with the bat. The left-handed batter finished scoring 407 runs in nine games with a strike rate of 132.57 and an at an average of 58.14 with one century, four half centuries and one 46-run innings.
Tamim, who has recently decided to pull him off from playing T20I for Bangladesh for six months, however is not giving importance to his individual performance rather is upset that his team featuring Bangladesh T20I captain Mahmudullah, veteran Mashrafe bin Mortaza and other experienced players could not finish well.
“Individual performance doesn’t matter much when you have played the game for say 14 or 15 years. It would have been better if the team could have played the play-offs even if I had scored half of the runs that I have scored. As a team we could not play good cricket and it was disappointing but that is how this format goes. It is not that we did not have the opportunity. We did have the opportunity but we could make use of those. The top four teams deserve to play the play-offs,” said Tamim.