'How can Shanto be leading Bangladesh when Tamim is right there and playing so well'

Fans in Chattogram were happy and sad at the same time, seeing their local man Tamim Iqbal, the star for Fortune Barishal, with an innings of 61 from 48 balls at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Thursday.

The innings helped Barishal defeat Dhaka Capitals as they chased down a target of 140 with eight wickets and 24 balls to spare as the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) began its Chattogram phase.

The result meant Barishal moved up to second in the points table with Dhaka bottom of the pack with just one win from eight games.

While fans were happy to see Tamim scoring his 52nd fifty-plus score in T20 cricket and his 30th one in the BPL, they were upset that he announced his retirement from international cricket just a few days ago via a status on his social media.

"You can see just the quality Tamim bhai still has. He is still the best opener Bangladesh has and should have taken a proper farewell," one of the fans at the ground, Sagor said.

Another fan, Iqbal Ahmed who was a student at Chattogram University said: "Tamim bhai deserved a proper farewell from the national team. Too often, we see our national team legends not getting the due respect and ending they deserve and worked so hard to earn and this is another example here."

Tamim, who was adjudged the Player of the Match, spoke to the media after the match and said he would "like to play domestic cricket for as long as possible".

"Now that I'm retired, I'm also eligible to play in the Legend's Cricket League," the 35-year-old said with a grin.

Tamim was also asked about his interest in joining the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to which he said he was "not interested in doing so anytime soon".

The boundaries in the BPL were a topic of discussion with many questioning how short they were including Tamim but he was happy to see that was not the case in Chattogram and there were normal-sized boundaries: "You could see some catches at the boundaries as a result."

It was a special innings for the left-handed opener as his son had come to see him bat: "I didn't know he would come initially but was happy that I could score some runs here and he got to see it."

After the match ended, the Barishal players who didn't get to spend time in the middle to bat, including Mushfiqur Rahim and Najmul Hossain Shato took part in running a few laps across the ground.

While the veteran batter was getting cheered on by a packed stadium waiting for the next match between home side Chittagong Kings and Khulna Tigers, there were loud boos for Bangladesh's ODI and T20I captain Shanto.

The reactions summed up the mixed emotions of the fans at the ground with one fan, Raju Roy, who has a local business saying: "How can Shanto be leading Bangladesh when Tamim is right there and playing so well? He must reconsider his retirement and come back. The BCB has to try and convince him."