Tamim Iqbal named new ODI captain of Bangladesh
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Tamim Iqbal has been given full-time captaincy of the Bangladesh ODI team, with the one-off ODI against Pakistan set to be his first assignment as full-time ODI captain. Tamim takes over from Mashrafe Mortaza, whose last leadership assignment was the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe.
Tamim has led Bangladesh in ODIs earlier, captaining the team in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka last July in Mortaza's absence. He had also led the team in the Christchurch Test against New Zealand in January 2017. Unlike the past, the BCB, this time, did not choose Tamim on a series-by-series basis and according to the BCB president Nazmul Hasan, they are looking forward to him continuing for a long time.Ā
"We have selected Tamim as our captain for a long period of time. There is no guarantee, but we have selected him for a substantial amount of time. Initially we wanted to select for a short term and then wanted to select someone next year as the full-time captain. But at the end of the board meeting, we wanted Tamim to lead the side for a long period of time," said BCB president Nazmul Hasan, reported Cricbuzz.
There wasĀ lot of drama going around in the BCB premises throughout the day with BCB directors calling Tamim twice during their board meeting, at the end of which Nazmul revealed that they chose the left-hander considering many factors that included reluctance from certain quarters to take on the captaincy role.
"It is hard to say [why we have chosen Tamim] the board decides it. The board decides and some of them are not interested too, to take the responsibility. Basically the board considered everyone and then they decided that Tamim Iqbal will be the captain," revealed Nazmul.
Mortaza had announced that the third ODI against Zimbabwe would be his last as Bangladesh skipper and finished his captaincy career on a winning note as Bangladesh sealed a 3-0 series win. Mortaza, however, will continue as a player, subject to selection.
