Tamim Iqbal Picture Credit: Twitter
Tamim Iqbal has announced retirement from T20Is shortly after leading the ODI side to a 3-0 series win over West Indies in Guyana. Bangladesh won the match by four wickets, with Tamim winning the player of the series award. Iqbal confirmed his retirement and wrote a short message on his official Facebook page, posting in Bangla saying, "consider me retired from T20 internationals from today. Thanks, everyone."
The 33-year-old Tamim Iqbal has been a regular in the Bangladesh T20I team from 2007 to 2018 as he played 75 out of 84 possible games for the team. He still is the only Bangladeshi batter to score a century in international cricket. He will finish his T20I career as the third highest run-scorer with 1701 runs at an average of 24.65.
Tamim Iqbal has been contemplating this decision to continue playing in the format as he had taken a break from T20 cricket in January this year. In a press conference, he addressed that he is going to take a break of six months from T20Is. He said, “There have been discussions about my T20I future".
"In the last few days, I have been doing meetings with the BCB President (Nazmul Hassan) and Jalal (Yunus) bhai and Kazi Inam (Ahmed). They wanted me to continue playing T20Is till the World Cup (this year). I had a different sort of thinking. I will not be considering T20Is for the next six months. My full focus will be on Tests and ODIs.”
“We are preparing for the World Test Championship and qualification for the 2023 World Cup. I will not be thinking about T20Is in the next six months. I hope that those playing will do so well, that the team won't need me in T20Is. But if God forbid the team or cricket board needs me, and I am ready, I will possibly think about it.”
But despite retiring from the international T20s, Tamim Iqbal will continue to play in domestic T20 competitions. He is the all-time leading run-scorer in the Bangladesh Premier League, as he has played in every season of the tournament. Iqbal has scored 2628 runs in his ten-year run in the tournament.