SPORTS REPORTER

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon said that the board still considers Tamim Iqbal as their ODI captain and that it will wait and hope for a change of heart from the opener, who had shocked the nation earlier on Thursday with the news of his retirement from international cricket.

“To us, Tamim is still the ODI captain,” Papon affirmed as he briefed the media following a meeting of the BCB high-ups at Friday midnight at a hotel in the capital.

Papon mentioned that he had sent a message to Tamim through his brother and Bangladesh team’s logistics operations manager Nafees Iqbal, asking him to at least stay on as captain till the end of the ongoing Afghanistan series, but had received no response from the left-handed opener.

“He is still an important player, who we dearly need in the ODI team. So, if he reconsiders and changes his decision then we will be very happy. And we are waiting for this,” Papon added.

Papon also wondered that such a drastic step from Tamim could not have been a decision he thought through completely.

“Even though he said that it was not a sudden decision as he had thought this through, I think it was an emotional decision. Why else would he take this decision so close to the Asia Cup and the World Cup?”

Asked if the board has made any decision regarding the next ODI captain, Papon said: “If for some reason the captain does not play then vice captain takes the charge of the team. So that’s what will happen. However, we are not announcing any permanent captain for the team now.”

Liton Das, who is the vice captain of the ODI team, will be leading the Tigers in the final two ODIs against Afghanistan in Chattogram.