Sports Desk:

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal has requested for a rest in the forthcoming lone Test match against Afghanistan as well as the following tri-nation Twenty20 international series against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, a Bangladesh Cricket Board official said on Saturday.

The Tigers are scheduled to host Afghanistan for a Test match on September 5-9 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram before hosting the Afghans and Zimbabweans for a tri-nation series in between September 13 to 24 in Dhaka and Chattogram.

Bangladesh are expected to start their preparation camp for the forthcoming series on August 20 but Tamim’s poor run with the bat made the opener ask for a rest in their upcoming fixtures next month.

BCB cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan confirmed New Age that they officially received a letter from Tamim but they would make their call after the Eid-ul-Adha break.

‘We have received a letter from Tamim [Iqbal]. He requested for a rest in the Afghanistan series. The BCB will respond to this request after Eid,’ he said.

‘He also requests not to include him for the following Twenty20 tri-series against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe,’ he added.

Tamim, who struggled with his form in the last ICC World Cup in May-July in the United Kingdom, had continued his dismal run against Sri Lanka in the following three-match one-day international series in Sri Lanka last month.

Tamim was made interim skipper in the absence of Mashrafee bin Murtaza in the Sri Lanka series but could score only 21 runs in three matches against the islanders at an average of only seven.

The 30-year old previously had a World Cup to forget where he made just 235 runs in eight innings at an average of 29.37 and struck just one fifty against Australia in the entire tournament.

His struggle with form made his team-mate and the team’s top-performer of the recent ICC World Cup, Sakib al Hasan, suggest him to take a rest and start afresh in a recent interview.

Akram confirmed that apart from Tamim, none of the other cricketers had made any requests for rest in the forthcoming series.

‘Other than him [Tamim], no one else has made such a request,’ he said.

According to the schedule announced by the BCB earlier, Afghanistan team will arrive on August 30 and play a two-day warm-up match on September 1-2 at MA Aziz Stadium in Chattogram against BCB XI.

They will play their maiden Test against Bangladesh at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on September 5-9.

Zimbabwe will arrive on September 8 and the tri-series will kick off on September 13 through the opening game between hosts Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur.

The final match will take place on September 24 at the same venue.