Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal announced his retirement from international cricket today. 

Tamim's press conference will be held at Tower Inn Hotel in Chattogram at 1:30pm. He had personally sent text messages to the journalists late midnight, asking them to be present at the press conference which was initially scheduled for 12pm.

The Bangladesh team management is likely to opt for a similar strategy dependent on their pace options for their ODI opener against Afghanistan at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Tuesday.

The BCB's medical department's ploy with the captain has been to allow him time to recuperate when he feels back pain. It appears that the same idea would be in action as Tamim wants to see how he fares after the first ODI tomorrow. 

"I'm not going to discuss somebody's medical history here but he [Tamim] has trained the last two days and he's good so far. We're closely monitoring his progress as well as how he recovers after training. He is training as usual," the head coach relayed during the press conference.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday revealed the much-awaited fixtures of the upcoming ODI World Cup in India, set to begin from October 5.

Bangladesh will begin their campaign against Afghanistan on October 7 in in the hill city of Dharamsala. 

Meanwhile, batters Yasir Ali and Rony Talukdar were left out from the previous squad, along with pacer Mrittunjoy Chowdhury who made way for Taskin

The selection of five pacers in the Bangladesh squad was a major talking point ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan, slated to begin today at Dhaka. Inevitably, even a day ahead of the match, discussions surrounded the greenish pitch. However, conditions can change pretty fast in Mirpur, but above all else the Tigers were looking for good Test match conditions in order to grow.

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal will not be featuring in the Tigers' one-off Test against Afghanistan, starting on Wednesday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, owing to a back issue. 

The team management will assess Tamim and Taskin's condition after Tuesday's training for a final call.

Tamim Iqbal's back issue had resurfaced during the national team camp and he had been rested on Thursday owing to the pain. Three days later on his return to the Tigers' practice yesterday, Tamim's back problem has not shown signs of relenting.

Bangladesh have a few injury worries to deal with as the one-off Test against Afghanistan approaches. ODI captain Tamim Iqbal and stand-in Test skipper Liton Das are battling with back issues. However, the injuries are not of an acute nature.

Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal believes that the Tigers’ upcoming full series against Afghanistan at home is going to be a ‘tough and interesting’ one.

With no series against England in the upcoming Future Tour Programme (FTP) Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal said that the just concluded three match ODI series was perhaps his last in the English soil.

“If I tell you we had the belief we'd win, I'd be lying. But cricket is a funny game, wickets fall and scoreboard pressure is bad to have. When the Fizz got two wickets, we thought we had a chance,” skipper Tamim Iqbal conceded at post-match ceremony and that is how close it was.

The Bangladesh captain had last scored an international ODI fifty in August last year, against Zimbabwe, and went nine innings without scoring a fifty during a slightly rough patch

The start of the second ODI between Ireland and Bangladesh has been delayed due to rain. Cricket Ireland twitted that its raining and the toss has been delayed.  

Author Mohammad Isam is a household name to those who follow Bangladesh cricket through ESPNCricinfo.

Bangladesh were in a spot of bother, losing both openers inside four overs after being sent in to bat first by Ireland in the first ODI at Chelmsford in England on Tuesday.