Tamim surprises young Tigers with generous act

Former Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal arranged high-quality bats to all the members of the Bangladesh under-19 World Cup team.

Several members of the under-19 side, notably opener Ashikur Rahman Shibli, had expressed their desire to purchase high-quality bats through Tamim during their Asia Cup campaign last month.

Shibli and teammates got much more than they had wished for as Tamim, after discussing with Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan along with the CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury Sujon, arranged top-quality bats from the renowned bat manufacturing company CA, which also sponsors the dashing left-hander.

And justifying his reputation as a big-hearted individual, Tamim decided to arrange bats for all the 15 members of the under-19 squad, instead of selling those.

Having received the bats from the CA company during his personal visit to Dubai, the Bangladesh stalwart handed over those bats to the young Tigers during the training session at the indoor premises of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Friday.

"During the Asia Cup campaign, Ashikur Rahman Shibli came to me and asked whether I could request Tamim Iqbal to arrange a few top-quality bats for them since we all know he uses the most expensive bats among the national team players," former Bangladesh cricketer and age level selector Hannan Sarkar informed the media on Friday.

"I called Tamim and informed him of the matter, and when he asked how many bats I needed, I told him it was fine if I got three to four bats. But Tamim called me again the next day to tell me that he had spoken with the BCB president and CEO and had decided to arrange bats for all 15 members of the squad."

The leading all-format run-getter for Bangladesh also shared his early-career experience with the elated bunch, motivating them ahead of the main event.

"Not only the 15 members of the squad Tamim also motivated the stand-by players as he shared his experience when he was dropped from the academy team and was made a stand-by. But six months later, he went on to represent the national team. Tamim said that they need to possess self-belief," Hannan went on to say.

The young Tigers are slated to fly to South Africa on January 7 to compete in the ICC Under-19 World Cup.