Tamim Iqbal's shock retirement - How it unfolded

Wednesday morning started with so many uncertainties. Just after Bangladesh's loss to Afghanistan in the first ODI in Chattogram, the team's media handle announced on Tuesday that there would be no media activity the next day. But suddenly at around 1:40 am in the night, news broke that the 50-over skipper Tamim Iqbal called an unofficial press conference on Wednesday at 12 pm. The place or the topic of the press conference wasn't revealed yet. As the clock approached 11:30 am, the time was pushed to 1:30 pm and Krishnachura Hall of Hotel Tower Inn was announced as the venue.

Journalists started gathering from 12 pm onwards. There were rumours flying everywhere in the hall. Some were thinking Tamim would step down from ODI captaincy, some were anticipating he might take a break, and some who had 'inside news' claimed Tamim probably would retire.

Tamim arrived at around 1:25 pm. All the cameras focused on him. His eyes were teary. That was the moment the people around him knew something massive was incoming. He took a moment to calm himself. A tearful Tamim uttered "This is the end for me. I am retiring from international cricket from this moment." 

The hallroom turned into a graveyard of silence.

Tamim retired from T20I cricket in July last year, that too was from Chattogram. The calendar turned to another July, and now he announced he will not be wearing the Red and Green jersey anymore. His retirement from international cricket came as an absolute shock to almost everyone in the cricket fraternity. 

Tamim said it was not a sudden decision and he had been thinking it for a while and finally felt the time was right to call time on his illustrious 16-year international career. 

What happened in the life of Tamim Iqbal in the last few days that made him retire in the middle of a series where he is captaining the side? That too with merely three months before the World Cup, the biggest stage which Tamim dreamt of leading the team to glory.

Tamim has been dealing with his bad run of form for a while now, add to that his injury woes which kept him away from most matches in the recent past. He missed the Afghanistan series just last month, and after that he trained hard to get back into shape before the all-important ODI series. He probably tried a little too hard. 

There were concerns whether he would be able to take part in the ODI series as well. He trained with the team on Monday, two days before the first ODI. But he was absent in the final practice session on Tuesday even though he attended the pre-match press conference.

This is where the story took its turn. Tamim revealed he was available for the first ODI despite not being 100% fit which naturally caused a stir. 

"I'm available for the first ODI, definitely. I'm doing better. But I won't say I'm 100% fit, but I'm ready to play. And I will play, In sha Allah," Tamim said in the pre-match press conference.

Tamim was visibly unfit, and he probably didn't want to risk the slight chances he had to play in the first ODI by training before the matchday. But he tried and hoped that he would be able to serve the team a little longer. 

Tamim's comment apparently angered the board president Nazmul Hassan Papon. He was fuming as he was quoted saying "I am absolutely furious with Tamim's statement. (Chandika) Hathurusinghe called me and shouted in anger for almost half an hour. Does he think this is gully cricket that he will check if he is fit or not after playing the game?" in a daily newspaper on matchday. 

"Either you are fit or you're not. Can you play international cricket with this mindset? This is not done," Papon's statement added.

People doubted whether Tamim would be in the playing XI after Papon's statement. But he was there at the toss. All the focus was on him - how he scores, how he is on the field and whatnot. 

Tamim also mentioned in his pre-match press conference that he would do anything for the team and it will always be 'team first before an individual' to him. So the questions kept flying whether Tamim would make any call after the loss or he would wait until the series ended. Tamim didn't wait for the series to end. 

While it's been anticipated that injury woes and poor run of form were the main reasons for Tamim's shock retirement, and he urged everyone to focus only on cricket in his retirement speech, there might be something more to that. 

The team management was reportedly unhappy with the nature of his injury that kept him out of the matches, and there were rumours that the captaincy would be handed over to someone else after the Afghanistan series. Tamim probably got a hint of that.

"Suppose I give you something. But since giving it, I am worried about how to take it back and give it to someone else. You also understand that. Would you hold on to that? Would it be respectable for you to keep it?" Tamim was quoted by another newspaper after his retirement. 

Whether it was his injury, bad form, or hurt ego that made him retire from international cricket, it was a brave call nonetheless. And it all happened during a series which is very important for team Tigers. Tamim urged to put an end to this and focus on cricket, but he clearly is in all the focus right now, as he has been throughout his career.