Tamim Excluded from T20I Central Contract, Mahmudullah from Tests

Tamim Iqbal, the ODI captain has been withdrawn from the T20I central contract, while Mahmudullah Riyad, the T20I captain, has been dropped from Tests. Although no official list has been released, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan Papon verified the news following a board meeting on Wednesday.

According to Papon, the central contracts for three formats have been negotiated and will be in place until December 2021.

"From May to December, the contract is in effect. Tamim is out of the shortest format because he opted out of the T20 World Cup and there are no more series till December. He is, however, on the list of ODIs and Tests "Papon remarked during a news conference on Wednesday.

"Since Mahmudullah retired from Test cricket, we haven't talked face-to-face. So he misses out on the Test contract. Tamim will be included if he wants to play T20Is again," he added.

Tamim Iqbal has opted out of the upcoming T20 World Cup. He hasn't been playing T20Is regularly and missed a number of matches in the last two years. The left-handed batsman has taken part in only three T20Is since January 2019.

"Since I didn't take part in the last 15-16 T20Is, it will not be fair to suddenly come and take the place of the others who played well in those games," said Tamim.

Mahmudullah announced his retirement from Test cricket in July as well. He made the announcement during the one-off Test against Zimbabwe.

Papon is not happy with the way Mahmudullah announced his retirement in Zimbabwe. He slammed Mahamudullah in today's board meeting. 

He said, "We knew about Tamim. But Mahmudullah's one was unexpected. This is not the way. No player can make a sudden announcement like this."

Bangladesh is currently playing New Zealand in a five-match T20I series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. They also won their maiden T20 match against the Black Caps.