Manner of Tamim's retirement unacceptable: Papon

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon rued the manner in which former ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal announced his retirement, saying that the spontaneous decision took him aback and that it was unacceptable given the marquee schedules the Tigers have this year.

Tamim called a press conference at a city hotel on Thursday when he announced that he was calling it quits from international cricket. He played the first of the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan the day before. 

Papon said that the decision was unwise considering that Bangladesh are set to play the Asia Cup, and the World Cup within the next three months.

"The manner in which he announced his retirement is not acceptable. It is in no way a wise decision for a captain to do this as we have the Asia Cup and the World Cup coming up and when a series is taking place. It seems that he has taken this decision a long time ago and I don't think he decided today all of a sudden. This is not the proper way," he told The Daily Star.

On Tuesday, Tamim said at the pre-match press conference that he was not at 'a hundred per cent' and would ascertain his fitness levels by playing the first ODI against Afghanistan.

In an interview with a local daily the following morning Papon was quoted as saying that the team management was left unhappy about Tamim's statements regarding testing his fitness out in an international match. 

Papon was quoted as saying that the task at hand -- the Afghanistan series -- was not gully cricket in which a player would try to ascertain whether he is fit or not.

When asked whether his statement had an impact on Tamim's decision, Papon stood his ground and asserted that he would point it out every time it happens. He also questioned Tamim's decision to announce that he wasn't fully fit in front of the media despite passing the fitness test that deemed him fit for the match.

"I will call it out whenever it happens. He passed the fitness test. Then why did he say in front of the media that he was not fully fit? If he was not fit then how did he get the green signal to play? If he had a problem regarding this he should've gone to the physio or come to us. What was his intention behind saying this to the media? Things don't work like that in international cricket. We never tolerated this and won't do it in the future," he said.

Papon said he couldn't reach Tamim to discuss the retirement and said he couldn't figure out why the 34-year-old took the decision so drastically. 

"I haven't been able to reach Tamim. I am trying to contact him. His brother, Nafees (Iqbal), was told to contact him but it seems that he doesn't want to get in touch meaning he doesn't want to have discussions. We have tried but can't get a hold of him. I can't understand what happened and why he took that decision. I talked to him three days ago regarding the squad. I couldn't sense anything. If we could've seen it coming, then we would've discussed it with him and then given a decision or we would've made sure that it wouldn't come to this. I don't know what happened. 

"Riyad (Mahmudullah Riyad) did it mid-way through a series, and then Mushfiq (Mushfiqur Rahim) did it. There are many who've said that cricketers can't leave with respect but tell me what kind of respect must we show. What should we do? If cricketers don't get respect in Bangladesh then who does? It's really very shocking for me. Why he did this we don't know. But I talk to them regularly and try to solve their problems. I guess this culture has to stop as they are still doing such things," he said.