Tamim Iqbal will "wait till January" before taking decision on his international career

DHAKA: Former Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal opened up on his international cricket career and said that he will be taking a decision in January.

While speaking at a press conference on Monday, Iqbal said that after the conclusion of the ODI World Cup 2023, he has decided to take a decision about his future in international cricket.

The 34-year-old revealed that he was out of Bangladesh for quite some time, so he couldn't meet with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan.

"After the World Cup, I felt that there should be a decision about my international future. Throughout my career, I have always kept myself away from indecision. I have always been very open and clear about whatever decision I have taken in my life. I was not in the country for quite some time, so this meeting [with BCB president Nazmul Hassan] was due," Iqbal said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

He also apologised for organizing a press conference before the start of the first Test match between Bangladesh and New Zealand at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. He hoped that it would not have any impact on their upcoming game.

"We held the meeting today because we had to postpone it yesterday too. Today is actually not a great day to do all this. The Test match [against New Zealand] starts tomorrow. Since we had to do the meeting today, a statement afterwards was always forthcoming, so I apologise that I am doing this the day before the game. It is important for me and the Bangladesh team that there's no impact of this in the game," he added.

He added that after the end of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), he will hold a discussion with the apex body of Bangladesh Cricket and then will take a discussion. "I don't want to keep things hanging for a few more months. I don't want to stretch it unnecessarily. After discussing a lot of things with the president and the board, I want to respect their decision and wait till January. I could have told you my plan today, but let me play in the BPL, and then we will have another discussion for sure," he added.

On the other hand, Nazmul Hassan added that he couldn't have a proper discussion with Tamim since he was busy with the elections in his constituency. "There wasn't enough time [to discuss matters with Tamim," Nazmul said.

"He said some stuff. But he came at a time when I didn't have enough time for him. I have the elections in a month. I spend most of my time in my constituency. I told him I will listen and speak to a few more people after the elections. I want to know where the problem is. I want to go into its depth," he said.

Earlier, the 34-year-old cricketer decided to retire from international cricket but reversed his decision after a meeting with Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. However, after returning to international cricket he later resigned from ODI captaincy.

The left-handed batter then played two out of three ODIs against New Zealand in September under the captaincy of Shakib Al Hasan.