Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal has announced his retirement from international cricket three months before the ODI World Cup 2023. Iqbal retired a day after Bangladesh's loss to Afghanistan in a rain-affected encounter in Chattogram.
In a press conference where he was surrounded by reporters on July 6, Iqbal got emotional while announcing his retirement after representing Bangladesh on international stage for 16 years. The 34-year-old stated that it was not a sudden decision and he was mulling over retirement for a while.
Iqbal’s full statement
"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 the 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.
"I need to thank a few people, which they deserve. (Pauses, and takes a deep breath). I have always said that I played cricket (long pause, deep breath) to fulfil my father's dream. So I am not sure how much I have made him proud throughout these 16 years of my international career.
"There are a lot of other people that I need to thank. My youngest chacha (uncle), his name is Akbar Khan. I held his hands to go to my first cricket tournament. I thank him and his family. I thank Tapan da, a coach in MA Aziz Stadium, (long pause, sobbing), who was my coach in my childhood. I thank all the players I played with from the U-13, U-15, U-17, U-19s, A team, Premier League, NCL and national team. Especially my national-team colleagues. The cricket board gave me the opportunity to represent the country for so long. I have captained Bangladesh too. I thank them as well.
"I don't have much to say. One thing I will definitely say is, I tried my best (sobbing). I did try my best. Maybe I was not good enough or good enough. I don't know. But I tried my 100% whenever I was in the field.
"There are a lot of other things I want to say, but as you can see I am almost unable to speak. But I hope you respect the situation. It is not an easy situation to speak. Quitting international cricket is not easy. I hope you understand. I am sorry to call you on such a short notice. I thank you all in the media.
"I also want to thank the fans. Your love and faith in me inspired me to give my very best for Bangladesh. I want to ask for your prayers for the next chapter of my life. Please keep me in your prayers.
"I am sorry if I missed anyone to thank. But whoever has helped me to grow as a cricketer and human being, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. My mother, my brother, my wife and two children. They suffered a lot in my journey. They also had much to cherish. I thank them as well. I have nothing more to say.
"Please end my topic here. It is the end. At least for international cricket. Let's not poke too much about it. 'Why, why, what is it, what else could have happened.' Let's put an end to this. I have always said that the team is bigger than any individual. Let's focus on the team. Two more games to go in the series. I think we should win. There are two major trophies."
Iqbal’s international numbers
The southpaw scored 8,313 runs from 241 ODIs at an average of 36.62 including 14 centuries and 56 half-centuries. He is the highest run-scorer in Bangladesh’s ODI history. In Test cricket, he has scored 5,134 runs from 70 Tests at an average of 38.89 including 10 centuries and 31 half-centuries. In T20I cricket, he has scored 1,758 runs from 78 appearances at an average of 24.08 including one century and seven half-centuries.
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