Tamim moved on before he was moved on

Just know that this was not in the script for the way Tamim Iqbal would have wanted it to end.

The captain of the ODI team announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket just three months before the World Cup and perhaps we all know the reasons why.

Growing pressure and criticism from fans regarding his batting form, technique, and fitness could all be reasons.

But sometimes, one gets the feeling that he was made a scapegoat, more often than not when Bangladesh did poorly; sometimes even when Bangladesh did well.

Even in the last match, where Bangladesh's batting unit failed as a whole, it was Tamim who faced the most amount of criticism.

Litton Das, his opening partner has scored fewer runs than him this year but doesn't face nearly the sort of toxic criticism that Tamim has.

Now debating whether the criticism Tamim faced was deserved or not is pointless because the man has called it quits with no proper replacement in sight.

And it's no easy task replacing the greatest opener the country has ever produced, especially when there are huge expectations from the team ahead of the World Cup in India. 

A matter of respect

Tamim was body shamed recently when news emerged that he was dealing with back issues and was not fully fit.

Perhaps those that did so might look in the mirror and wonder if you can train properly with a back issue or not and whether not having a six-pack means you're unfit.

Perhaps the media that decided to make a big deal out of remarks on Tamim by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief Nazmul Hassan Papon are also to blame for making a mountain out of a molehill.

Perhaps all of these combined made the Southpaw think twice about representing the national colours again.

Surely, in his 16-year-long international career, there is a minimum level of respect he deserved?

And surely, he perhaps feels that the trouble isn't worth it anymore when you're not getting the due respect.

Even when Tamim played one of the best innings by a sub-continent opener against South Africa in South Africa to help Bangladesh win the ODI series 2-1, one feels that people still questioned his captaincy.

In his tenure, Bangladesh have been one of the best ODI outfits and was at the top of the ODI Super League for quite some time, he was still called a 'defensive captain', with nothing concrete to back that up with.

Fans questioned his place in the team at times and accused him of being able to keep his place because his uncle Akram Khan is a selector.

That couldn't have been farther from the truth as his brother Nafees Iqbal was dropped by the time Tamim became a national team regular.

If that was the case, they would have at least batted together in international cricket as that would have been a dream for the two brothers and their selector uncle would have used his influence to get them both to play.  

In Bangladesh's cricket history, the top players didn't get to retire on a happy note.

We know how it ended for Mashrafe Mortaza in T20Is and how it ended for Mahmudullah in Tests.

In some of their cases, many feel they overstayed their welcome, especially Mashrafe.

For Tamim though, one can say he certainly moved on before the game moved him on.

There's a saying which goes 'It's better to burn out than to fade away', and Mr Khan certainly did that. 

He will be a big miss for Bangladesh cricket no doubt, may the fans not have to suffer too much for that.