Tamim Iqbal, who is considered to be Bangladesh’s best
batter in history, will not be travelling to the 2023 World Cup with his team
because of a chronic back injury. Before choosing the final roster, Tamim had
informed the selectors a few days prior that they should consider his back
injury.
BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin explained the
exclusion saying, “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 complain. We thought of his injury concern when not taking him
in the squad. 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.”
On September 23, Tamim scored 44 runs in the second
one-day international against New Zealand, his first outing since changing his
mind about retiring from international cricket in July. Additionally, a layoff
due to an injury led him to miss the Asia Cup.
The World Cup team was supposed to be announced at
5:45 pm on Tuesday, but the BCB later postponed the announcement until after
the third ODI between Bangladesh and New Zealand. The extra few hours fueled
rumours that there might be a last-minute alteration, but it didn’t work out
that way.
Tamim had said after the New Zealand match that there
was still some discomfort in his back, which the team’s physios were trying to
help him overcome.
“You can’t take risk with some injuries,”
Abedin said. “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.
“Tamim is one of our best players but an injury
concern restricts his ability. He had suffered with 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.”