Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan is puzzled by One Day International captain Tamim Iqbal's claim of being given the wrong exercise routine despite concerns about a back injury.
Tamim, who shockingly announced his retirement from international cricket earlier this month but later withdrew his decision with the involvement of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, broke his silence to Dhaka Tribune last week in an exclusive interview.
In one part of the interview, Tamim, while speaking of his prolonged back injury, said:
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“The injury reappeared recently when I was working in the gym. Now the question should be whether the exercise I was doing in the gym was right or wrong. Why was I given an exercise that I should not be doing? Why was I not given a routine of exercises that would not harm my back? We should find answers to these questions too.”
The statement raised eyebrows and triggered a discussion in the community, as it seemed the Bangladesh opener questioned the competence of the national team management.
Speaking to the media following lunch with the Bangladesh national women's cricket team Sunday, Nazmul said he is unsure of Tamim's objective in making such a statement and mentioned that cricketers have never mentioned such kind of matters before.
“You [media personnel] all tell me; I do not want to make any comment on this. I do not know the reason why he said such a thing and under what situation. Does this mean that the people [national team management] who gave him the exercise routine wanted to harm him? I do not know the objective of his statement,” said Nazmul to the media.
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“We have been fully supportive of him [Tamim] with his treatments for the last two years or so. We have not heard any such things before. Now the new doctor that he is going to see in London has suggested treatment with injections, and if that doesn't work, he will need surgery. We are ready to do everything that is needed to make him recover from the injury. There is no doubt about it. I am not sure about his statement. He never mentioned this to me,” the BCB chief added.
One major topic of discussion during Tamim's three-hour-long meeting with the Prime Minister earlier this month was about having former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza as a mentor in the upcoming Cricket World Cup.
Nazmul did not provide a specific answer when asked about this and instead mentioned that he will have a discussion with Tamim on this matter since Tamim is the captain of Bangladesh in the World Cup.
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“Tamim is our captain in the World Cup; there is no doubt about that. Liton [Das] stood as captain when Tamim was not available in the last two games. Tamim will get his post back once he returns to the team, and if not, then someone else will have to take charge. We are still not sure of his availability. So, there is no point in commenting on that. We should not speak of the discussion we had with the Prime Minister in public,” said Nazmul.