Bangladesh cricket has been facing a turbulent period in recent months and all the incidents in the last few months are not less than a soap opera.
One of the major talking points of Bangladesh cricket in recent times is Tamim Iqbal.
The former ODI captain of the Bangladesh National Cricket Team has been having a roller coaster ride in recent weeks in the late stage of his illustrious career -- and it's not a happy ending for the left-hander who has scored more than 15,000 runs for his country and is often described as one of the best batsmen Bangladesh has ever produced.
Under Tamim’s captaincy in ODI format, Bangladesh were flying even at the start of this year as Bangladesh ranked third in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League Standings which were updated on June 22 this year. Tigers finished with 155 points -- from 24 games they had 15 wins, eight losses and one no result; exactly equal with second position holder England who were ahead on net run rate.
The team looked settled then and Bangladesh was hoping for a great World Cup with an impressive performance later this year.
But since Tamim, the regular ODI captain, missed a few series with injuries, the tension was building in and outside of the team. And after Tamim’s sudden unavailability from a home Test match against Afghanistan on the eve of the match and his remark on his fitness before the first ODI of three-match match, this triggered an outrage from the top level of Bangladesh Cricket Board.
More precisely, the main man of BCB reacted heavily when talking to a newspaper on Tamim and even questioned his dedication and honesty towards the national team. The BCB boss gave a statement to that newspaper like: “Is this like a street match? Or play among amateurs. How can a captain or international cricket talk like this?”
Then all hell broke loose and eventually Tamim Iqbal resigned from just not the captaincy but he retired from international cricket in the middle of that series.
And the rest is like a drama as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was involved with the matter and ordered former captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza to sort it out. Eventually Tamim Iqbal withdrew his retirement and vowed to play in the World Cup.
However, Tamim stepped down from the captaincy and for the last two months worked really hard to get back in the national team for the World Cup.
Tamim is back to cricket with the recently concluded New Zealand series where he batted in the second game and scored 44 runs but more importantly batted for 20 overs.
After the game, he said he is relieved to be back on the field but also informed that he still feels some discomfort.
And eventually, the World Cup announcement came as a shocker to the nation as Tamim was excluded from the squad and selectors explained he was dropped on fitness issues.
But Tamim revealed in his official Facebook page on Wednesday that he was fit to play according to the physio report and he was committed to going to the World Cup. He never said any comment to anyone regarding playing just five games.
Now comes a twist in the video; Tamim revealed that one of the top-level officials from BCB said to him that he would be dropped from the first game against Afghanistan -- and even if he plays, he will have to bat in lower middle order.
Tamim felt this was unfair and insulting and suggested that it appeared that they had no trust in his batting ability after almost 17 years of cricket as an opener. He felt he should rather have been excluded from the World Cup squad -- and eventually, this is what happened.
Such shocking revelations raise serious questions about the professionalism of BCB. How on earth can a BCB official dictate this to a player whether he should play or not or in what batting order he will play in a match that will take place almost two weeks later?
That’s the job of selectors or coaches. Why are BCB officials involved with these?
Is there any cricket board in the world where a board director or even board president can dictate about best eleven or batting order like that?
Like Nazmul Hassan said to the media during his statements against Tamim, fingers can be pointed to BCB now: Is this like a street match? Or play among amateurs BCB? How can a board member, no matter how influential he is, talk like this? Where is the professionalism now?
