After a lot of late-night drama Bangladesh has finally announced their World Cup squad. A notable omission from the squad is that of former ODI captain Tamim Iqbal who has been nursing a back issue for almost a year now.
Tamim’s place in the squad was one of the hotly debated topics when the opening batter and Bangladeshi captain Shakib Al Hasan had a meeting on Monday for the selection where the captain seemed unhappy after Tamim told the selectors that he could not play more than five games in the World Cup.
Injury Concern
Shakib was of the opinion that if Tamim can’t play all the matches then there is no point selecting him for the World Cup and the selectors did so by not picking him for the World Cup. “We are all aware that Tamim Iqbal is a long-term injury concern. He returned for the New Zealand series. After the first match, there was a bit of a complaint. We thought of his injury concern when not taking him in the squad,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin said.
“We have spoken to all concerned, before taking this decision. We discussed it with Tamim. We can’t tell you what we spoke about. We discussed it with the team management and didn’t want to take a risk in a long World Cup campaign. It is a very important event.”
The Big Decision
“You can’t take risks with some injuries. If someone gets injured in the World Cup, it will get the team management into an uncomfortable situation. He played the first two matches, but we had to rest him. He had a bit of pain after the second game. We considered this before taking the decision,” Abedin said.
“Tamim is one of our best players but an injury concern restricts his ability. He had suffered from back pain for a long time so the New Zealand series was a chance to check his fitness. He played the second game fully, but he didn’t play the third match. We discussed it with the medical team, after which we took the decision.”
Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Tanzid Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Tanzim Sakib, Nasum Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman.
