Shanto, Tamim hold talks

Following the match between Prime Bank and Abahani on Monday, Tamim Iqbal sat down with national team skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto for a one-on-one meeting, giving rise to speculations.

After the match, the players shook hands before Tamim and Shanto sat down inside the Abahani dressing room. Seeing heavy media presence, the duo moved further inside the room. The meeting took place for a while before Tamim departed the stadium but not before meeting BCB's cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus. Shanto also held a meeting with Yunus to discuss upcoming assignments.

When reached out, Yunus informed that his discussion with Tamim was nothing out of the ordinary while that between Tamim and Shanto will remain between the two players.

A source inside the BCB, requesting anonymity, said that Shanto discussed Tamim's return to the national team but no particular format was discussed. Media reports had previously suggested that Tamim was reluctant to play under Chandika Hathurusingha but another BCB source claimed that the Sri Lankan's name did not come up in the meeting between the two players.

When Shanto was asked about the meeting by reporters, he said: "It was not a serious discussion. We have one-dayers after a gap, so there is no plan in that regard at the moment. But given his [Tamim] experience, having him in the side is advantageous and junior players can learn from him."

"It is not important that I look into it [Tamim's return]. Selectors would look into it," Shanto added.

While it could not be ascertained whether Tamim was positive about a return, what is a positive is that it was the first time a member of the team management held direct discussion with Tamim regarding his return to the national team.