No rift between Mahmudullah and Tamim: BCB president

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan said that there is no squabble, at least that he knows of, between Bangladesh T20I skipper Mahmudullah Riyad and the ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal. 

Tamim, from a Facebook live, had announced himself unavailable for selection for the upcoming T20 World Cup on September 1, hours before Bangladesh took the field against New Zealand in the first T20I. 

Tamim's decision was respected by the board and the left-hander was eventually left out of Tigers' 15-member squad for the upcoming World Cup. 

And even though Tamim stated that the main reason behind his decision was to give the other openers a fair opportunity, such a sudden decision from the country's best opener caused a commotion in the media and among fans. There were even words that it was Mahmudullah who did not want Tamim to be a part of his T20 side in the World Cup.  

"First of all, there is no way [for me] to be around the team due to the bio-bubble. But still, as far as I have seen, I did not see any problem between them [Tamim and Mahmudullah]," Hassan said while speaking to the media after Bangladesh's fifth T20I against the Kiwis today.

The BCB had appointed two team leaders for the Tigers' previous two tours to oversee the team's performance and overall behavior. BCB's media committee chairman Jalal Yunus accompanied Tigers as the team leader in their tour of New Zealand in March-April this year while BCB director Ahmed Sajjadul Alam Bobby toured with the team as the team leader during Tigers' tour of Zimbabwe in July. 

The BCB president said that he did not hear of any rift between Tamim and Mahmudullah even from these two team leaders.    

"I asked Jalal [Yunus] bhai, who went with the team [in New Zealand last April]. I also asked [Ahmed Sajjadul Alam] Bobby bhai about this. No one said there is a problem between them [Tamim and Mahmudullah]. So, there is no reason to comment on this anymore," added Hassan. 

Hassan also mentioned that he had never asked Tamim to review his decision and change his mind about not playing in the T20 World Cup.

"Me asking Tamim to review and change his decision -- no such incident happened. This is totally wrong information," Hassan said.

"Tamim took this decision after discussing everything with me. Everything he did, he had discussed it with me. So, how can I ask him to review his decision? I had already given him my consent. But the [Mahmudullah] Riyad incident [his retirement from Test] was totally unexpected to me," Hassan added.