Bangladesh One Day International captain Tamim Iqbal rocked the cricket world earlier this month when he announced his shock retirement from the international arena. The opening batsman had called a press conference at his home city Chittagong to say goodbye to the game against the backdrop of the ODI series against Afghanistan and after comments from Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan on his fitness. However, around 28 hours later, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took matters into her own hands through former national team captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza and ensured Tamim withdrew his decision. Since then, the southpaw has been away from the field and media. Arguably the finest batter Bangladesh has ever produced, Tamim finally decided to break his silence in an exclusive interview with Dhaka Tribune where he talked about the retirement saga that had turned into a national issue overnight. Below are the excerpts:
How have you been since the retirement saga?
It has been some tough days to be honest, and it is still the same. I do not think I have been able to completely get the experience out of my head yet. The whole incident has been tough on me.
I started playing cricket for the love of the game and later to fulfil my father's dream. It was tough for me to decide to leave this game. To be frank I never imagined the scenario that had prevailed after I called retirement. The emotion and reaction showed by family and friends were startling. The whole incident was tough for me to absorb.
Despite everything, it was important for me to decide to retire. There were enough reasons. I never pointed any fingers at anyone [at the press briefing]. I thought my career with the national team for 16-17 years is bigger than pointing fingers at anyone.
Another thing is that the decision was not taken overnight. I had been thinking of it for quite some time and I spoke to my family three-four days before making the announcement. I do not want to disclose my struggles, this is something the cricket board should know. I am going to Dubai with family and then to England for treatment. Upon returning to Dhaka, I will speak to my reporting boss in the board, which is the chairman of the cricket operations committee [Jalal Younus]. I want to discuss with him in details the whole incident, the reasons for my decision, the matters which I have been dealing with for the past six-seven months and why I was compelled to call the retirement.
I want to speak to the BCB and not to media or any other public platform. We talk a lot about being professional and its importance and amazingly we often do not follow that. There is nothing called an office secret. We should always have a limit to something but sometimes those are crossed brilliantly. There have been incidents in the past where I have shared a personal matter with the board but those also got informed to the press. This has happened not only with me but many other cricketers and even board members. This puts everyone in an uncomfortable situation. There are times when you cannot speak as you have the fear of it getting disclosed in public.
I will hope whatever discussion I have with the cricket operations chief will remain within the walls. I have a lot of trust in Jalal bhai. Till date I have shared a lot of matters with him which never got disclosed so I am looking forward to an open discussion with him and decide my way forward from there.
Will your meeting be with only the cricket operations?
Yes, it will only be Jalal bhai to start with but if the board and Jalal bhai think more people should be part of it, then it is upto them. I always respect the “chain of command”. I am a national team cricketer and my direct boss is Jalal bhai. Anything I have to do or say, it must be through him and the department. Yes, I do maintain a good communication with the board president [Nazmul] as well but I never want to break the chain of command. I will not say I have been able to maintain this 100% but I always try to. But this is not a very common practice here I must say. There is national team coach and then there is Jalal bhai. It depends on him if any other person should be involved here or not.
Who are not following the chain of command? Cricketers, team officials or board members?
I am speaking in general and not pointing fingers at anyone. Those who do it know who they are. This is why I am saying I am not sure how many among us follow the chain of command. Following the chain of command keeps everyone's respect intact. But there are people who often break it and show zero respect to the hierarchy. I will speak to the cricket operations and they can decide the way forward but I will never cross the line and do something that is not ethically right.
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You had to withdraw your retirement after meeting with the Prime Minister. Can you take us a bit through that episode?
I had decided to retire due to reasons and then withdraw my decision also for reasons. I thought I will have a maximum of 10-15 minutes with the Prime Minister. She is a tremendously busy person and 10 minutes of her time for me is a lot. But my meeting with her went on to last three hours during which she spoke to me personally for around 90 minutes. I shared with her all the issues and the reasons behind my decision to retire. The Prime Minister of the country wanted to hear about it so I had to tell her everything.
Having listened to my issues, she shared her opinion which I think should not be mentioned in public. I tried to explain to her a bit the reasons why I retired and how it will be better for me.
She told me to withdraw my decision and I think there is no one who can say no to the Prime Minister. She had her reasons to make me reverse my decision and anything that she says is the ultimate. It is impossible to say no to her command.
Those who know me well know that I am not someone who will easily change such a tough decision. I had a huge number of requests to make a comeback when I retired from Twenty20 internationals, everyone knows that, but I did not change my decision. But when the Prime Minister of the country tells you something, that surpasses everything else.
Mashrafe reached out to you and informed that the Prime Minister wanted to meet you. Did it occur to you that you have to overturn your decision?
Mashrafe bhai was in continuous touch with my close friend since the press conference. He had messaged me as well but did not call as he knew the situation I was in; he has faced similar situation. He knows well that there is not much to talk about.
The next day [Friday, July 7] when I reached my home in Dhaka, I noticed he had called me so I called him back. He first asked me where I was and told me that the Prime Minister is looking for me. So, I went to the Prime Minister's residence and the rest, everyone knows.
Was your discussion with the Prime Minister only limited to cricket?
We discussed many things to be honest. The meeting was three hours long so of course there were many subjects which we discussed. So, there was discussion of cricket and matters apart from the game. She assured me on some things. She knows a lot of things that are happening and I do not want to talk in details about this.
Did you think of the jokes and trolls which you would have to face by withdrawing your retirement?
See the whole incident lasted 28-29 hours so there was not enough time to think. I was already dealing with emotions. The Prime Minister had told me to reverse my decision so there was no need for me to think of who is saying what and the criticism. I had retired because I had given up and had to return because there was no option for me to say no. We are talking here of the Prime Minister of the country.
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There has been a lot of discussion over your decision to retire during a series…
Like I have already said, I have been thinking of this since the last seven-eight months. But honestly, I did not find it easy to leave. I kept on pushing myself through the challenges, I tried to get out of it. But during this series I thought I have had enough.
It has nothing to do with cricket, neither it is about me not being able to score runs. I have not done well in the last three series but that does not relate to my retirement call. I tried to fight back the situation I was dealing with. But I think I had reached a point where I thought it was enough and the situation had gone beyond my control.
During the game [first ODI against Afghanistan], was there any incident on the field or in the dressing room which triggered you?
No such incident. My teammates did not know what I was thinking, not even my brother [Nafees Iqbal] who is manager of the national team. He got to know about it very late at night and it was shocking for him as well.
Did you meet with your teammates when you left the hotel in Chittagong for the press conference?
Words had spread out when I announced the press conference the night before. So, a few players had come to my room. Many of them messaged me following the press conference. Mushfiqur [Rahim] had messaged me continuously but unfortunately, I could not reply to him and apologized for it later.
It is being said the BCB president's interview on your fitness might have been a reason for your sudden decision to retire…
Firstly, I want to believe that no such thing was a reason behind the decision to retire. I already said, no one will enjoy such comments but also said the interview was not a reason for me to retire.
Secondly, no one in this world is perfect. I am also not a perfect person. I have both good and bad in me. I have both advantage and weakness in me. But if someone wishes well for me, I think he should tell me that first before saying it to someone else. If I have issue with fitness and work ethic, I should be the first person to get informed. I should be given time and if I do not change then action should be taken against me. But it is never right to talk about it without speaking to me.
The board president's remark had come following your statement “I am not 100% fit but I will play tomorrow”. Was it a team decision for you to play in the first ODI?
I cannot tell you the whole story behind this but do you think anyone can force himself into a playing XI at international level of cricket? Does not matter if you are the captain or a star player of the team. Suppose the coach said “you cannot play”, the team management said “you cannot play”, medical team said “you are not fit to play” – can you force yourself to the field? Is it even possible?
I could not have played that game if everyone in that room had not agreed. It is just not possible. Now if someone comments on it after taking the decision – I am not sure if anyone has – it is not an appropriate thing to do.
Being 100% fit and passing the fitness test, is it the same thing? How many cricketers in the world play with 100% match fitness? A player is always dealing with niggles. Sometimes players are on the field even if they are 80% match fit. When I said “I am not 100% fit but will play”, it means I am fit enough to play the game and it has been decided by the team – by those who took the fitness test, by the medical team. It would have been a different story if even one person was against the decision. But it was a team decision – I was good to go, so there should not be any question on this issue.
Also Read: Timeline - How the Tamim retirement saga panned out
I want to say once again – I did not retire because of the comments from the board president. Yes, his comments were not nice but that was not the reason.
You have been dealing with back injury for a long time now. How soon will you be able to get rid of it?
I will have to work on it. I have been dealing with back injury since the India series [December 2022]. I scored a century in the practice game and when I got back to the dressing room, I first felt the back pain and informed it to the management. The problem was, the pain from my back was spreading to other parts of the body so I missed the India series.
Then I played the Bangladesh Premier League taking injections but I had to stop after playing 10 games as I could feel the pain was reappearing. I did not take any risk as we had the England series and Ireland series at home and away. I was fine in those series.
The injury again reappeared recently when I was working in the gym. Now the question should be if the exercise I was doing in the gym was right or wrong. Why was I given an exercise which 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.
You met the BCB president at Prime Minister's residence. He had said the night before that he was not being able to reach you...
We had a very normal discussion. I think our relation with Papon bhai [Nazmul] is about cricket and it should remain that way. He is the chief of Bangladesh cricket so my relation with him is like it should be between a board president and a cricketer. So we had a discussion based on that.
Given the scenario now, people are bound to expect more from you. Is the situation tricky?
There is always pressure of expectations. Now it will be a bit more, that is it. It is no use to think of those things now. I do not even want to think to be honest. The most important thing now is to speak to the board regarding the reasons owing to which I had to retire. If those things do not change, my situation will be where it was before.
I must have something in my mind which I do not want to disclose to public. Board should know the matters. A lot will depend on my meeting with the board.
Let's say you tried your best but still could not produce the best result in the two upcoming major tournaments - Asia Cup 2023 and Cricket World Cup 2023. If that were to happen, does it worry you that you might not have a pleasant retirement?
Not really. There is no point in looking back now. I have already seen my retirement. I will not have a press conference when I leave the game again. That part is done.
There can be nothing more honest than the press conference I had done that day. Tears and emotions cannot be faked. It was a very emotional incident for me so my retirement part is done. Now my focus is to try to give the best on the field, say if I play one-10 or 20 games, and leave it for good when I think it is time, but in a very simple way.
What are your plans before that meeting with BCB?
I will spend a few days with the family in Dubai and then travel to London to see the doctors. I have appointment with two doctors so a lot will depend on the assessment of the doctors. I will be off for a few days after I come back to Dhaka and then have the meeting with the board.
