Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal steps down from ODI captaincy, to miss Asia Cup 2023 due to injury

Tamim Iqbal will continue to serve Bangladesh as a player.

Tamim Iqbal (Image via News18)

Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal stepped down from ODI captaincy with immediate effect on Thursday (3 August). The veteran opening batter will also miss the 2023 Asia Cup due to injury. Notably, a few weeks back, Iqbal had announced his retirement from International cricket but only to reverse it after a few hours.

Iqbal was convinced by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Haseena and former cricketer Mashrafe Mortaza to take back his retirement. While Iqbal was expected to continue as the captain at least till the ODI World Cup, the veteran has decided to step down from the position.

Meanwhile, it was also confirmed that Iqbal will miss the continental showpiece event due to a back injury. However, the opening batter is expected to play as a batter at the ODI World Cup.

“As you know I had an important meeting with Jalal bhai [Jalal Yunus] and Papon bhai [Nazmul Hassan]. We have discussed what will happen going forward. Today I step down as Bangladesh cricket team ODI captain,” Tamim said in a press conference alongside the BCB president (via Cricbuzz).

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Tamim Iqbal will continue to act as captain

The 34-year-old said that although he will not be the captain, he will continue to act as one. Iqbal further explained his point as he said that he will try his best to help the captain in anyway possible.

“See I may not have the captaincy tag on me but whenever I am playing, I will act as a captain. What I mean is whoever is the captain I will do everything and do my best to help the captain,” Iqbal added.

Notably, Tamim Iqbal took over Bangldesh’s ODI captaincy from Mashrafe Mortaza in March 2020. In 37 ODIs captained, Tamim won 21 of them- finishing with a win percentage of 56.75, only marginally second to Mortaza’s record (56.81) among Bangladesh captains.