Dhaka – Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal will not play in the Bangladesh’s lone home Test against Afghanistan and also in the Tri-Nation T20 Series involving Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in September next.Tamim had requested Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) before Eid-ul-Azha to allow him to skip the series.Chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu on Thursday confirmed UNB that the board granted Tamim’s request.
“Tamim had made the request before Eid and we’ve decided to allow him to skip the series. So, he’ll not be playing the Test and the Tri-Nation T20 Series,” Minhajul told UNB at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Afghanistan will arrive in Dhaka on August 31 and they will play their first Test against Bangladesh at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram from September 5 to 9.
After the Test, Bangladesh will play the Tri-Nation T20 Series with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. Bangladesh will play at least four games in that series.
Tamim has been going through a bad patch for a long time. He scored just 235 runs in eight games he played in the just concluded ICC World Cup 2019 in England and Wales featuring just one fifty in the marquee event.
After that, he also failed in the Sri Lanka tour where Bangladesh lost all three ODIs of the series. Tamim led the team and returned home with nothing.
In this situation, Bangladesh’s Test and T20 captain Shakib Al Hasan advised Tamim to take leave and prepare himself for making a good comeback in the next assignment in India in November.UNB
