Tamim appointed as ODI skipper

It took only three days for Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to announce the new skipper for Bangladesh's ODI side and it is Tamim Iqbal. 

After a board meeting at Mirpur on Sunday, BCB President Nazmul Hassan confirmed that Tamim was going to lead the side in the 50-over format. 

On Thursday, the day before Bangladesh's third ODI against Zimbabwe against Sylhet, Bangladesh's most successful ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza announced that he was stepping down from captaincy and the third ODI against Zimbabwe would be his last match as the leader of the pack. 

And within three days, BCB has come out with a verdict and that is of Tamim's appointment. 

"We had a meeting today. We have decided to appoint Tamim as the captain of the ODI side," Nazmul said in a press briefing after the meeting. 

BCB was in talks with Tamim over the last few days. He was even called up on the day of the meeting to talk about captaincy. After that discussion, Tamim was appointed as the skipper of the ODI side. 

Tamim's appointment comes with no fixed timeframe but BCB boss Nazmul Hassan said that from their side, they have appointed Tamim for long-term. 

"There was a thought that we would hand someone captaincy on short-term, then next year we will appoint someone else. But in today's meeting, we decided that there were no plans for appointing someone on short-term. What we have done, we have done it considering a long-term project. For now, we have selected Tamim and we want that he remains skipper for a long time. I can not say about the future, but from our side, we have appointed him for the long-term," Nazmul said. 

He added, "We have not given him any guarantee about being captain. But we have appointed him as skipper for long-term."

Tamim's service as regular ODI skipper will start without a deputy as BCB has decided not to appoint someone as vice-captain. 

"We are not appointing anyone as vice-captain. We are not discussing that. That will be decided in the future," the BCB President said. 

The BCB President had said before the ODI series against Zimbabwe that this would be Mashrafe's last series as skipper. And after Mashrafe's announcement, BCB speeded things up and as a result, the announcement of Tamim being skipper came along. 

Shakib Al Hasan could not be considered because of the ban imposed on him by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Current T20I skipper Mahmudullah Riyad's name was also thrown into the discussion. But his appointment did not get much support and thus was discarded. 

Apparently another of the senior players, Mushfiqur Rahim was himself reluctant to take up the role of skipper. Therefore, Tamim was considered to be the best option and was appointed.

Tamim had led Bangladesh in one series till date and that was in 2019 against Sri Lanka, right after Bangladesh's disastrous World Cup campaign. Bangladesh had lost that series by a margin of 3-0 and Tamim's performance was disastrous, to say the least. 

Mashrafe ended his stint as the most successful Bangladeshi captain ever. Mashrafe led the side in 88 matches and won 50 of them, which meant he had a win percentage of 56.82. 

The BCB President also talked about the celebration of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's 100th birthday celebration. He said that there will be two events to commemorate the historic event. 

"For the celebration of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu's 100th birthday, we will have two events. The first is a concert on April 18 where A R Rahman will perform. The other, two matches between the Asia XI and the World XI will be played on April 21 and 22," Nazmul said. 

Nazmul also talked about the central contract as he said that a total of 16 players will be included. 

"14 players will be provided with central contracts - combining white and red ball contracts. There are three categories - A, B, C. There will also be a 'D' category, which was named 'Rookie category' earlier on. There will be two players in that category. The details about the contract will be disclosed soon with a press release," the BCB President said.