Bangladesh Cricket Board has announced Tamim Iqbal as the captain of the Bangladesh men’s ODI side.

BCB president Nazmul Hasan confirmed their decision following a board meeting on Sunday (Mar 8) at BCB premise.

The step down of Mashrafe Mortaza as captain of ODI side created a void and the BCB has taken the decision quickly through a genereal meeting among the Board directors on Sunday. It was known that the experienced left-handed batsman is endowed the responsibility for a longer duration.

“We have selected Tamim Iqbal as the new captain of Bangladesh cricket team. Initially there was a plan about giving captaincy for a shorter period. But later we have selected the new captain in as usual way, for long term. There is no time frame about this or it is not on a basis of series by series. From BCB’s end we have chosen our new captain for long term basis,” said BCB boss to media after the meeting.

Tamim was the vice captain of the team for several terms. But this is the first time he has been selected for the captaincy role for long time.  Earlier, he captained the side during the three-match ODI series away against Sri Lanka just after the 2019 World Cup. Bangladesh lost 3-0 in that series.

Tamim has played 207 ODIs for Bangladesh so far and scored 7202, highest for the country, with 13 hundreds and 47 fifties till date.

Apart from taking decision on who will be the next ODI captain, the BCB directors have discussed with other agenda as well.

BCB have finalized the list of contracted players. There will be 16 contracted players for the upcoming year. Among them, 14 players will be categorized by A,B,C and two players will be given as D grade.

The match for Asia XI and World XI to mark the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will be held on Mar 21 and Mar 22.

After the Board meeting BCB boss also confirmed that a concert, by legendary music composer AR Rahman, will be held on Mar 18 on the occasion of the Asia XI and World XI matches.