Veteran Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has dismissed claims of a rift with opener Tamim Iqbal, attributing the rumors to BCB President Najmul Hasan Papon’s statement that allegedly exacerbated the situation. Shakib emphasized that he and Tamim were always on talking terms despite the noise.
In a February 2023 interview with Cricbuzz, Papon mentioned an unhealthy dressing room environment and specifically pointed to a supposed rift between Shakib and Tamim. He noted that while he had spoken to both players, their differences seemed challenging to resolve. Nonetheless, he was assured that these issues wouldn’t impact the team’s performance.
Clearing the air in a documentary aired by Bongo, Shakib blamed external forces for blowing the situation out of proportion rather than focusing on their on-field performances.
“This thing [the relationship between Tamim and Shakib] came to focus after Papon [Najmul Hasan] bhai spoke about it and it created a lot of problems in the relationship and created this situation. I think some people had the intention to keep it [the rift] in focus and tried to make it the main point [of discussion] rather than the cricketing side. For quite some time, we were not talking a lot. [But] it is not right that we were not on talking terms,” Shakib stated.
The 37-year-old all-rounder opined that their respective marriages naturally led to them spending less time together but maintained that their relationship was never strained.
“There was a time when we used to be together all the time, but that relationship was not there for quite some time. It is very natural… I got married, and he got married; we were staying separately in different places and so there was very little time between us,” Shakib explained.
Ahead of the 2023 World Cup in India, Tamim’s relationship with the BCB became a focal point as a top official allegedly requested him to bat lower in the order. Shakib later described the veteran opener as ‘childish’ for not adjusting to the team’s needs.
“I don’t think any incident took place that would harm the team” – Shakib Al Hasan
Shakib emphasized that nothing happened between him and Tamim that could have disrupted team harmony.
“There is nothing like making it good or bad [as far as the relationship with Tamim is concerned]. Till we played together and shared the dressing room together, I don’t think any incident took place that would harm the team. We tried to contribute whether we were talking or not; there was no kind of problem inside the field or in the dressing room,” he concluded.
Tamim retired from T20I cricket in 2022 but still plays the other two formats. He had surprisingly announced his retirement from international cricket in July last year, only to make a U-turn 24 hours later.
