UNB, Dhaka :
Tamim Iqbal retired from T20 International right after leading Bangladesh in an ODI series victory over West Indies on Saturday.
The left-handed batter announced his retirement through a short message on his official social media page. He wrote: “From today, consider me retired from T20 Internationals. Thank you, everyone.”
Tamim had taken a six-month break from the format in January this year. Since then, there was speculation over his future in this format. While taking the break, Tamim said he is not retiring from T20Is.
The batter has played his last T20I in 2020 against Zimbabwe in Mirpur. He later skipped the T20 World Cup that took place in the UAE and Oman— which was a surprising move from the batter.
While skipping the World Cup, Tamim said the younger players deserve more chances in the format to do well. Tamim’s decision had opened the door for Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar to try their hand at the top of the order. But both failed to cement their places.
It is expected that Tamim, one of the best batters that Bangladesh has ever produced, will continue to play T20s on the domestic circuit, though, he did not say a word about it.
Tamim played 78 T20Is for the Tigers and scored 1758 runs with a century and seven half-centuries. Tamim remained the only Bangladeshi batter to have scored a century in the T20Is— that came against Oman in the T20 World Cup 2016 in India.
