Bangladesh stalwart Tamim Iqbal has requested the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to grant him a break for the side’s upcoming Test against Afghanistan as well as the T20 tri-series also involving Zimbabwe.
Bangladesh are due to take on Afghanistan in a one-off Test match that gets underway on September 5 before they play hosts to a T20 tri-series beginning on September 13.
”We have received a letter from Tamim in this regard ,” BCB’s cricket operation chairman Akram Khan was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
”We will take a decision about it after the Eid vacation,” he added.
The southpaw has been out of form for some time now and was dismal with the bat in Bangladesh’s recent tour of Sri Lanka. Tamim was able to manage just the 21 runs in the three innings with the Tigers being whitewashed 3-0 in the ODI series.
Tamim was woefully out of sorts during the Sri Lankan tour.
The experienced batsman had been appointed as the team’s stand-in skipper for the Sri Lankan tour as well after Mashrafe Mortaza pulled out with a hamstring injury.
The opening batsman did not have the best of World Cups in England either prior to that series and was able to muster just the 235 runs in eight innings at an average of approximately 29.
According to another report by ESPNcricinfo, Tamim has been granted his request for a break and will now only be back in action for the tour of India which gets underway later in November this year.
Tamim is not the first Bangladesh player to have asked the BCB for a break from cricket in recent times. Star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan had a similar requested granted to him in 2017 during the Test series against South Africa and was given another break for the recent tour of Sri Lanka.
