Tamim breaks silence with triple ton
The last time Tamim Iqbal spoke to the media was during the three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka in July last year, when he led Bangladesh in the absence of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. Since then, a long time has passed without the dashing left-hander interacting with the media.
Tamim was ruled out of action during the following series and did not even speak to reporters upon his return to cricket during the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League. He opted to maintain his silence after the first phase of the tour to Pakistan last month, where his strike rate in the three-match T20I series was widely criticised.
But the 32-year-old finally broke his silence yesterday after a rather special achievement as Tamim registered the highest individual score by a Bangladeshi in first-class cricket. He was unbeaten on 334 before East Zone declared their first innings on a mammoth 555 for two on the third day of a Bangladesh Cricket League match against Central Zone.
Tamim became the second Bangladesh player to register a triple hundred after Rakibul Hasan, who was actually the first one to congratulate him on the field after the left-hander took a single off Shuvagata Hom to reach the milestone. Tamim did not stop there and went on to surpass Rakibul’s record for the highest individual score, set at 314, which the right-hander had proudly claimed for over twelve years.
All eyes were on Tamim after he resumed the third day on 222 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. The southpaw, who played with a rather attacking approach to reach his double ton the previous day, remained calm and watchful while approaching his triple hundred.
There were celebrations upon his return to the dressing room as Tamim was given a guard of honour from his teammates.
A jubilant Tamim later said that he had never imagined he would score a triple hundred.
“It’s a special feeling to score a triple hundred because I never imagined I would score a triple hundred. Everyone dreams of it but I never thought it would happen in this game. The most important thing for me was how I batted. It’s not about how many runs I scored, the most pleasing was the way I batted. I am happy but I hope I can continue like this,” Tamim told reporters yesterday.
Tamim who struck 42 fours and three sixes on his way to reach the milestone where he faced 426 balls and spend over nine hours at the crease and according to the left hander, he tried to keep things simple and played proper cricketing shots. The left hander also informed that he didn’t even think of reaching triple hundred until he reached 280 runs as it might have hampered his mindset after the way he was building his innings.
“Scoring 300 against any opponent at any level of cricket is special. It’s very difficult. If it was easy then you might have seen someone scoring a triple hundred every month. It will have a very special place in my heart for sure,” Tamim said.
The cricketer from Chattogram also made fun of Rakibul, saying that he might have been praying for Tamim to be dismissed on 299. However, he did praise his former national teammate for being first to the feat.
Tamim also spoke about complaints that national-team players were not keen on playing domestic cricket. According to Tamim, national players have to play a lot of matches round-the-year in international cricket and it is important that they are given enough rest.
"As a player you will always want your record to remain right on top all the time and from that point, I also felt the same. But still I am happy to see Tamim finally break the record since the way he batted was something tremendous."
