Emotional overdrive of final hours

As the members of the Bangladesh team returned to their rooms at the team hotel in Chattogram following defeat to Afghanistan in the first ODI on Wednesday, there were arguments, disappointment, agitation, anger and a lot of emotion flowing around in Tamim Iqbal's room till midnight.

It came as a big shock for those present in Tamim's room, including his elder brother Nafees Iqbal and a handful of his close friends, to whom the 34-year-old had first revealed his decision to retire from international cricket. 

There were long phone conversations between Tamim and his wife in Dhaka, and it was learnt that the family members requested him to reconsider his decision. 

Emotions were high and so was the grief for the highest run-getter for Bangladesh in ODIs, but Tamim remained adamant in his decision to make the toughest call of his life. 

Tamim's family members and close friends, however, were aware of the fact that he was going through mental stress for a while now, and eventually they gave their consent to his decision. 

It was also learnt that Tamim had prepared a written statement, which he was supposed to read out but eventually he left the note behind when he arrived for the press conference the next day. 

During that long night at the Radisson Blu hotel, Tamim sent text messages to some of the journalists inviting them for an impromptu press conference at 12:00pm Thursday, mentioning that the location of the press conference would be revealed an hour before the press meet. 

By the next morning, Tamim had already checked out of the team hotel, without saying goodbye to any of his teammates, midway through the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan in which he led the hosts in the first game. 

The gravity of the situation remained enormous as the sudden press meet announcement spread all over the media like a wildfire with anticipation and speculation gathering a head of steam. 

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials were shell-shocked, with the chairman of the cricket operations committee, Jalal Yunus, trying to reach out to Tamim over phone. After a few attempts, Yunus was able to reach Tamim, only to hear the cricketer say, "Bhai, I think I'm done with cricket." 

It was also learnt that even BCB president Nazmul Hassan had called Tamim a number of times, but the cricketer did not answer his calls.   

Tamim had, meanwhile, relayed another message to the media that the press conference would be delayed and would start at 1.30pm. 

Initially the plan was to hold the press conference at the MA Aziz Stadium, where Tamim had started his cricket career, but later he changed his mind and decided to book a hall at Tower Inn hotel, a few blocks away from his family house in Kazir Dewry. 

The 34-year-old cricketer arrived at the hotel in his black SUV, 10 minutes before the scheduled time, wearing a cap and with blood-shot eyes.

Everyone at the jam-packed hall instantly realised the severity of what they were going to witness. And it turned out to be one of the most emotionally-gripped and shocking press conferences in the history of Bangladesh cricket. 

After saying what he had to say, Tamim walked out without taking any questions from the media and went straight to his house, where he was supposed to stay the night with his close friends and family before taking the return flight to Dhaka today.