'I better leave if the press conference is regarding Tamim's retirement'

Litton Das was angered by repeated Tamim Iqbal questions in the pre-match press conference before the second ODI on Friday. He even threatened to leave the press conference. 

After skipper Tamim's shock retirement just a day earlier, it was expected that there would be a few questions regarding him. In fact, almost all of the first seven-eight questions were regarding Tamim's retirement. Litton answered the first few questions nicely but he lost his patience when he was asked whether the team wants to give Tamim an official sendoff. Even he appreciated the journalist who finally asked a question regarding Saturday's game after all the Tamim queries.

"Is this press conference regarding tomorrow's match? If not, then it's better for me to leave. You can call the BCB president or the coach if it's about his retirement. I'm here to talk about tomorrow's match," a visibly annoyed Litton said.

Litton was asked whether Tamim's retirement mid-series will affect the team negatively.

"No. Look, if he was injured, we would have played with someone else. I don't think there will be anything changed due to his retirement. Everything will be the same," Litton answered. 

Litton further said the team respects Tamim's decision even though it came as a shock to them as well.

"I came to know about it at 1 pm yesterday, before the press conference. Naturally, we didn't realise this was going to happen after playing cricket together for so many years. But it's completely his decision. He has given Bangladesh a lot. We respect his decision."

Has Tamim's retirement mid-series made things more challenging for captain Litton? He doesn't think so.

"No, really. Players are all the same. If Tamim bhai got injured instead of retiring, would this question arise? Never. I think we need to look forward. What's gone is gone," he further said.