Tamim Iqbal, a former captain of One-Day Internationals, said that he decided not to play in the World Cup owing to the unjust treatment he got from a high-level official of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
On Tuesday evening, BCB revealed the 15-person roster that will represent the country in the World Cup. Tamim, who seemed to be well on his way to participating in his sixth World Cup, was cut out of the team, much to everyone’s astonishment.
After scoring 44 runs against New Zealand in the second round of the three-match series that was supposed to ramp up preparations for the World Cup, he disclosed in a video that he put on his Facebook page that he felt ready to catch the aircraft to India after his performance. The series was designed to boost up preparations for the World Cup.
“I was very happy after the game (2nd ODI),” he stated after the match. “I was very pleased with how I batted, and I had an air of confidence about me.”
The left-handed opener said that a more senior member of the BCB had requested that he be excused from playing in the first World Cup match against Afghanistan. He went on to say that even if he were to make it into the eleven for that game, the official in question had advised Tamim that they would prefer him to play further down in the order if he were to participate.
This idea had stunned Tamim, particularly considering that the most recent report from the physiotherapist had not said that he needed to sit out of the game against Afghanistan. As a result, he felt that he was the victim of a filthy atmosphere that had created multiple barriers for him over the course of the past several months.
“The report said that I felt discomfort after both the first and second matches that I played in. “The medical department believed that if I was rested and played the second practise match on October 2, then I would get enough time ahead of the first match (of the World Cup against Afghanistan),” Tamim said while quoting the physio’s report. “It said that I am available for the match on September 26, but they believed that if I played the second practise match on October 2, then I would get enough time ahead of the first match.”
“This would give me two weeks of rehabilitation and put me in a much better place to play the first match,” he stated. “This would put me in a much better place to play the first match.”
The southpaw batsman, who is 34 years old, also discussed the conversation he had with the BCB selectors following the second one-day international match in New Zealand. After the game, the selectors reportedly entered the locker room, where Tamim was waiting, and he informed them about the severity of his pain, which, according to Tamim, would not improve. Tamim said that he had conveyed to the selectors his desire for a choice to be made despite his health.