Picture Credit: BCB/ICC
As the T20 World Cup squad announcement deadline nears, it has become a talk of the town as to who is going to represent their respective teams at the biggest T20 event. The teams seem to have arrived upon a conclusion but Bangladesh has received shocking news ahead of their announcement. In the latest update, it is being learned that Bangladesh experienced opener Tamim Iqbal has decided to pull out from the ICC event.
As per recent reports, Tamim Iqbal has himself decided that he will not take part in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 as it won’t be ideal for him to take the spot from a youngster who has been performing for the team consistently. Tamim has been out of action in T20 cricket for a considerable time due to injury concerns. The southpaw last featured in the Tigers’ home series against Zimbabwe in March 2020. In fact, he has only played three T20Is since January 2019.
“Since I didn’t take part in the last 15-16 T20s, it won’t be fair to come suddenly and take the place of the other who played well in those games,” Tamim was quoted as saying in United News of Bangladesh.
Who can take the spot in Tamim’s absence?
Bangladesh Cricket Board will be worried if not surprised at this decision as they would have liked an experienced campaigner at the top. Tamim is currently the second-highest run-getter for Bangladesh in T20Is. He has scored 1701 runs from 74 matches and remains the only centurion for the Tigers. Nonetheless, in his absence, BCB will have to look for other better options present at the moment. Mohammad Naim Shaikh, Soumya Sarkar, Mahedi Hasan, and Liton Das are the names that played for the team at the top and can feature in the Bangladesh squad for the World Cup. Among these names, Liton Das remains the top contender looking at his abilities at the top of the order.
Bangladesh are in good form in the shortest format at the moment. They defeated Australia at their home and created history. They will now play a ‘second string’ New Zealand for a five-match series at home, starting from today.