‘ Arey ye toh Shahid Afridi ke tarah nikla’ – Fans react as Tamim Iqbal reverses retirement decision overnight
Tamim Iqbal has now decided to withdraw his retirement from international cricket after the left-hand batter had a meeting with Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The star opening batter shocked the cricketing world by his sudden retirement on Thursday as everyone were anticipating him to represent the national side in the upcoming Asia Cup and ODI World Cup 2023 which is scheduled to be played later this year.
But now it looks like the 34-year-old has taken a U-turn on his decision to retire from international cricket. According to the reports, the Bangladesh Cricket Board confirmed that he has withdrawn his decision after an intervention from Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He reportedly met her on Friday afternoon after being invited for a meeting.
“This is the end for me. I have given my best. I have tried my best. I am retiring from international cricket at this moment. Yesterday against Afghanistan was my last international game. I am retiring from international cricket effective right now. It was not a sudden decision. I was thinking about the different reasons. I don’t want to mention it here. I have spoken to my family members about it. I thought this is the right time for me to retire from international cricket,” he said in a press conference.
Here is how Twitter reacted to this funny series of instances;
https://twitter.com/RohitJa98837448/status/1677295538612629507?s=20
https://twitter.com/Itz_me_traitor/status/1677295477673590785?s=20
https://twitter.com/smarth_30/status/1677296034345787392?s=20
Excellent to see the involvement of Prime minister, this is what cricket means to Bangladesh. Their love for this game is tremendous! Whatever the reason for his retirement they solved it.
Something similar is happening with Indian players too, posting cryptic msg!!— Sajjad Ali (@SajjadA15728745) July 7, 2023
He had to withdraw it how can a player of his calibre retire at just 28
— Abhishek Sharma (@Abhiiit23) July 7, 2023
Isme kaunsi badi baat ho gayi ?? pic.twitter.com/9DGs4Dsd8A
— Rainbow Salt (@Rainbowsalts91) July 7, 2023
https://twitter.com/ProtikChowdhu19/status/1677305054871851010?s=20
https://twitter.com/umayr99/status/1677295915407745027?s=20
He was in the PM’s residence with his wife, his former captain Mashrafe Mortaza and BCB president Nazmul Hassan. He will also take a one-and-a-half-month break before returning for the Asia Cup, scheduled to begin on August 31. Tamim’s earlier decision to retire from ODIs and Tests came after he announced his decision to quit T20Is on June 2022. In ODIs, he is Bangladesh’s most successful with 8313 runs from 241 ODIs at an average of 36.62, including 14 centuries and 56 fifties.
As captain, he led his side in 37 ODIs, out of which Bangladesh won 21. His win percentage of 60 is the highest among all 15 captains who never led the national side, including the most-capped Mashrafe Mortaza, whose win percentage read 58.13.
