Bangladesh star Tamim Iqbal announces shock retirement from international cricket

Bangladesh have lost a proud servant of the game in ODI captain Tamim Iqbal...

The shock move came after Bangladesh lost to Afghanistan in the first of three ODIs on Wednesday. Speaking from a press conference in Chattogram, Iqbal explained how his decision was not impulsive.

"This is the end for me, I have given my best, I have tried my best," said the incredibly emotional 34-year-old, as per ESPN's cricinfo.

"I am retiring from international cricket from this moment. Yesterday against Afghanistan was my last international game. It was not a sudden decision. I was thinking about the different reasons. I don't want to mention here. I have spoken to my family members about it. I thought this is the right time for me to retire from international cricket.

"I need to thank a few people, which they deserve. I have always said that I played cricket to fulfil my father's dream. So I am not sure how much I have made him proud throughout these 16 years of my international career.

"There are a lot of other people that I need to thank. My youngest chacha (uncle), his name is Akbar Khan. I held his hands to go to my first cricket tournament. I thank him and his family. I thank Tapan da, a coach in MA Aziz Stadium, who was my coach in my childhood. I thank all the players I played with from the U-13, U-15, U-17, U-19s, A team, Premier League, NCL and national team. Especially my national-team colleagues. The cricket board gave me the opportunity to represent the country for so long. I have captained Bangladesh too. I thank them as well.

"I don't have much to say. One thing I will definitely say is, I tried my best. I did try my best. Maybe I was not good enough or good enough. I don't know. But I tried my 100% whenever I was in the field.

"There are a lot of other things I want to say, but as you can see I am almost unable to speak. But I hope you respect the situation. It is not an easy situation to speak. Quitting international cricket is not easy. I hope you understand. I am sorry to call you on such a short notice. I thank you all in the media.

"I also want to thank the fans. Your love and faith in me inspired me to give my very best for Bangladesh. I want to ask for your prayers for the next chapter of my life. Please keep me in your prayers.

"I am sorry if I missed anyone to thank. But whoever has helped me to grow as a cricketer and human being, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. My mother, my brother, my wife and two children. They suffered a lot in my journey. They also had much to cherish. I thank them as well. I have nothing more to say.

"Please end my topic here. It is the end. At least for international cricket. Let's not poke too much about it. 'Why, why, what is it, what else could have happened.' Let's put an end to this. I have always said that the team is bigger than any individual. Let's focus on the team. Two more games to go in the series. I think we should win. There are two major trophies."

Iqbal was a proud servant of Bangladeshi cricket, racking up over 15 000 runs across the three formats, along with 25 centuries. Ten of those came in Test cricket, where he averaged 38.89.

With the ODI World Cup just three months away, the Bangladesh Cricket Board will be scrambling to appoint a captain. Stalwarts Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das are the likely candidates to take over the reins of the Tigers.

READ MORE: Mark Wood leads England's Ashes fightback as Australia four down before lunch