Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu explained Tamim Iqbal's exclusion from the World Cup squad as a fitness issue involving the southpaw's injury concerns.

BCB announced the Tigers' 15-member World Cup squad on Tuesday on their official YouTube channel via a video after which the selectors held a press conference where the primary topic was Tamim's exclusion.  

"Tamim Iqbal has had an injury concern for long. Everyone knows that he's been fighting with injury. He got his fitness back before the New Zealand series but after the first match, there was a complain (regarding Tamim's fitness). So, considering everything, his fitness, and injury concerns, he was not included in the World Cup squad," Nannu told the reporters. 

"There were discussions with the team management and upon those discussions, we decided we couldn't take that risk. There are a lot of matches in the World Cup and it's a matter of a lot of time; It's a very important event and considering all of these, he was left out of the squad," he added. 

A BCB source had earlier informed The Daily Star that Shakib communicated to the board that he would step down as ODI captain if unfit players were picked in the World Cup squad.

Shakib, however, retained his position as the skipper while Tamim, who has been suffering from a back injury that saw him out of the Asia Cup earlier this month, was not included in the squad. Tamim was also rested from the final ODI against New Zealand on Tuesday after he played for the Tigers in the first two matches.