‘They took care of me when there was no cricket’

Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal has been a regular feature in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) over the years but was not picked for the tournament this time. The left-hander cited his reasons for opting out of the tournament this time around during an interview with The Daily Star today.

The PSL was stopped midway on March 4 due to the fresh outbreak of coronavirus but talks are ongoing to hold the sixth edition of the tournament in UAE next month. Tamim had featured in the PSL final last season with Lahore Qalandars but his side were beaten in the final Karachi Kings by five wickets.

Tamim had his own assignments with the Bangladesh national team during their away tour of Sri Lanka to play a two-Test series in February. However, he still had opportunity to play some matches, but cited that the Dhaka Premier League, which is set to resume in T20 format on May 31, was his primary focus.

"As the Dhaka Premier League will take place and I am already committed to a club so I informed the PSL authorities that we have a tournament in Bangladesh. I also informed them about the amount of payment I am getting from Bangladesh. And even if I went to PSL and my team reaches final I would able to play only four games," Tamim said.

Tamim captained Prime Bank in the DPL before the league was suspended mid-March last year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

"So it won't be beneficial for me as I am committed to Prime Bank Club in Bangladesh, who have already paid half my payment before the pandemic started. So I thought it would be better for me to remain committed to Prime Bank club because they took care of me when there was no cricket in the country. This is the reason I didn't go to PSL," Tamim concluded.