Tamim posts cryptic message about his T20I future on Facebook, later deletes it

Tamim Iqbal said he will retire from a format to prolong his international career.

Although he did not mention the format at that time, many among the cricketing fraternity believed it would be the T20I format. 

Over time, speculation has increased as the experienced left-handed opener stayed away from T20 internationals for various reasons over the past two years. 

On Sunday night, speculation about his T20I future reached boiling point after a Facebook post from Tamim's official page. 

After Bangladesh played their second T20I match against the West Indies on Sunday, Tamim's verified page had a post which reads, 'T20 International', followed by three hand-waving emojis at the end of the post, which means he's saying goodbye.

The post, however, did not stay for long and got deleted after a while. 

But by then the screenshot of the post had gone viral on social media. 

Many people have assumed that the ODI captain has retired from T20Is or is going to retire soon.

Tamim took a leave of absence from this format for six months last January, which is not over yet. 

Even BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon's requests could not bring Tamim back to play T20Is. 

A month and a half ago, when asked about Tamim Iqbal's performance in the T20 World Cup, Jalal Yunus, the chairman of the BCB's cricket management department, said it was difficult to get him in the World Cup squad.

Tamim's six-month leave from T20Is will end on July 27. 

Then he will think of returning to T20 only if the team needs him. 

Otherwise, the left-handed opener doesn't want to play in the shortest format anymore - Tamim said while taking leave. 

Of course, some have made other calculations. 

Some of the general cricket fans have written by posting a screenshot of Tamim's post, Tamim has written it to lament the team for his poor performance.

Whatever the reason behind the post, everyone has to wait at least till July 26 to know about the future of Tamim in T20Is.

Tamim played his last international T20I match against Zimbabwe on March 9, 2020, in Mirpur.

Since then, Bangladesh has played several series including the T20 World Cup. 

Tamim was not part of any of the teams and requested to not be considered for selection for the World Cup as he felt the other openers deserved to keep their spots as the team was doing well leading into the T20 World Cup. 

Sometimes due to injury and sometimes due to family reasons, the 33-year-old has kept himself away from this format. 

For Bangladesh, Tamim has scored 1,601 runs at an average of 24.75 with a century and six half-centuries in 64 T20Is and is the third-highest run-scorer for Bangladesh in this format. 

He is the only batter in Bangladesh to have a century in the International Twenty20s.