Tamim Iqbal announces shock international retirement just 3 months before ODI World Cup

TIL Desk Sports/ A day after Bangladesh lost the first ODI to Afghanistan by 17 runs, ODI captain Tamim Iqbal shocked everyone by announcing his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect. Iqbal’s decision to abruptly end his 16-year international career comes just three months before Bangladesh play in the ODI World Cup, to be held in India from October 5 to November 19.

“This is the end for me. I have given my best. I have tried my best. I am retiring from international cricket from this moment. Yesterday against Afghanistan was my last international game.” “It was not a sudden decision. I was thinking about this for different reasons. I don’t want to mention here. I have spoken to my family members about it. I thought this is the right time for me to retire from international cricket,” Iqbal said in a tearful press conference in Chattogram.

Iqbal made his international debut for Bangladesh in February 2007 and played in 241 ODIs, scoring 8,313 runs with 14 centuries – both of which are the most by a batter from the country. The veteran opener, who made heads turn with a quickfire fifty in an upset win over India in the 2007 ODI World Cup, is also the only Bangladesh batter to have scored centuries in all three formats of the game and had already retired from T20Is in 2022.