Shakib Al Hasan clarifies the differences with Tamim Iqbal, saying, “I think some people had the intention to keep it in focus’

After speculations of a falling out between the two cricketers over the past year went viral, Bangladesh’s best all-around player, Shakib Al Hasan, addressed the long-standing feud with Tamim Iqbal. During the final week of February, Nazmul Hasan, the chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, said that the two senior players on the national team were estranged and not communicating with each other.

Tamim claimed that Shakib Al Hasan’s friendship with him had no effect on team dynamics, but Shakib disagreed and addressed the issue in a documentary that was broadcast on Bongo, a well-known OTT platform in Bangladesh. Shakib asserted that rather than attempting to find a solution, Nazmul made his already tight relationship with Tamim worse. In an attempt to draw attention away from more significant problems besetting Bangladesh cricket, Shakib also implied that some individuals or interests might have purposefully emphasised the separation between him and Tamim.

“Papon [Nazmul Hasan] bhai’s remarks concerning the relationship between Tamim and Shakib brought it to light, which led to many issues inside the relationship and the current state of affairs. In the Bongo documentary, Shakib was cited as saying, “I think some people had the intention to keep it [the rift] in focus and tried to make it as the main point [of discussion] instead of the cricketing side.”

Cricinfo reports that Shakib Al Hasan said it was incorrect to say he and Tamim Iqbal were totally alienated, even if there was a time when they weren’t speaking.

He said they’d spent a lot of time together before, but Shakib thought it was only normal that their connection would eventually drift due to outside influences like marriage and living situations with their spouses. He mentioned how their connection had waned over time due to their hectic family schedules, even though they had been good friends when they lived on various levels of the same building.

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We had not been speaking much for a while. It’s not right, though, that we couldn’t communicate. The problem is that although we were constantly together for a while, that connection did not last for very long. It’s quite organic. We spent very little time together after getting married and moving to various areas,” Shakib continued.

As people begin to lead separate lives, the closeness between them naturally diminishes. Over time, our hectic schedules caused the relationship to shift, even though we were staying in the same building on different levels. Subsequently, we had conversations whenever necessary when we met on the pitch, and aside from that, I don’t think we need to chat much’, Shakib added.