How Farooqi became a catalyst in the Shakib-Tamim rivalry

It's Tamim Iqbal vs Shakib Al Hasan in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2024 again as Fortune Barishal will take on Rangpur Riders in the second Qualifier of the tournament on Wednesday. A few years ago, a battle between two Bangladesh stalwarts used to feature friendly banters, but not anymore. They have grown bitter rivals on the field and off it. 

Recently, the duo ignored each other in a function and days after that, Tamim mocked Shakib's celebration after the latter got out in the group game between Rangpur and Barishal. That literally broke the internet with videos and screengrabs of Tamim's celebration going viral in no time. 

Fans are bracing for a hard-fought and fierce encounter again but another battle could very well define the course of tomorrow's game. 

Just hours before the first Qualifier against Comilla Victorians, Rangpur announced the arrival of Nicholas Pooran and Fazalhaq Farooqi. Pooran was supposed to join the team but Farooqi's arrival was a bit of a surprise because there was no prior announcement. 

Farooqi bowled superbly well with the new ball in his first game in the ongoing tournament, picking up left-handed Sunil Narine's wicket in the very first delivery of his spell. His spell in the powerplay read 2-0-8-1.

Facing a left-arm swing bowler like Farooqi can be a dangerous prospect. A clip of a clueless Jason Roy playing and missing Farooqi and finally getting bamboozled in a T10 game did the rounds on social media late last year. 

Now in his second BPL 2024 game, Farooqi will be up against his bunny Tamim, a batter against whom he has a 100% track record. Tamim faced Farooqi in four international innings and got out to him four times. The last occasion was in July last year in Chattogram, a day before Tamim abruptly announced his retirement from cricket, a decision he would reverse a few days later after a meeting with the country's Prime Minister. 

Tamim had been under pressure leading up to the match after he admitted that he was not a 100% fit. There were reports in the local media suggesting that the board president Nazmul Hassan and head coach Chandika Hathurusingha were not happy with his decision of playing the ODI against Afghanistan. 

Tamim had been dismissed by Farooqi cheaply on all three occasions before that game and the Afghanistan seamer turned his nemesis again in that game in Chattogram. That dismissal on 13 off 21 balls was probably the last nail in the coffin for a run-shy Tamim and he decided he was done. 

After a turbulent few days, Tamim was granted a leave for a month and a half instead of an international retirement. All seemed to be fine when he made a pretty confident comeback in the New Zealand ODI series just before the World Cup. Tamim's spot in the World Cup XV was not in question after that series but just hours before the squad announcement, it was reported that Shakib, the team's captain for the World Cup, and Hathurusingha didn't want to include Tamim, who was still not a 100% in terms of fitness.

During the squad announcement, the then chief selector Minhajul Abedin said Tamim's exclusion was due to his injury. But Tamim revealed later that he was asked by a cricket board official to bat lower down the order or skip Bangladesh's World Cup opener against Afghanistan. It was clear that Tamim's struggles against Farooqi made him an unwanted candidate for the opening spot in the Afghanistan game.

An opener by trade, Tamim was angry and felt it was part of a "dirty game" to drop him from the team and told the selectors not to consider him for the World Cup. 

Then it was Shakib's turn. He slammed Tamim in a bombshell interview just before the World Cup, calling him "childish" and questioning his commitment to the team and accused him of playing for himself because of the opener's reluctance to bat lower down.

We all have heard about the butterfly effect. It suggests how the world and its happenings are interconnected and one small thing can influence a much bigger system. Farooqi triggered Tamim's exclusion from the World Cup squad and it subsequently intensified the rift between two long-time friends.

It's interesting now to think that Farooqi was actually Tamim's teammate at Minister Dhaka in the 2022 BPL. He had an unremarkable tournament with the ball but had the better of Tamim in the ODI series in all three matches in the same year. 

So, besides the Tamim vs Shakib battle, the encounter between Tamim and Farooqi will be one to watch out for. It was up to Barishal coach Mizanur Rahman Babul to answer the inevitable question in the pre-match press meet. 

"The Farooqi thing, it's a two-year-old issue," said Babul. "Alhamdulillah, Tamim is in a great position now. It may have happened two-three years ago but I don't see any reason why it will happen again."

Tamim is truly in superb form with the bat. He is the second-highest run-getter of the tournament but it will be intriguing to see if he manages to overcome his nemesis Farooqi in the end.