While they were meant to be busy preparing for the next match of the ongoing ODI series against Afghanistan, the teammates of Tamim Iqbal took to social media instead to express their love for their recently retired teammate and captain.
Tamim, one of the finest batters ever produced by Bangladesh, announced his retirement from international cricket midway through the Afghanistan series, leaving his teammates in shock. Many of them expressed disbelief that Tamim would no longer lead the ODI side in the remaining matches of the series.
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Tamim's former captain and teammate, shared a heartfelt post on social media, referring to Tamim as his own "sniper" during his captaincy of the Bangladesh ODI team.
"I understand your emotional state, and I want to emphasise that Bangladesh cricket will forever remember the contributions you have made. Time will reveal the immense amount of hard work, dedication, talent, and sacrifice it takes to reach the level of a player like Tamim," Mashrafe further wrote.
"We have shared great memories, celebrated achievements, victories, and endured tough times together. It's incredibly difficult to believe that we will no longer share the dressing room and take our nation to victories," Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim's former captain, teammate, and friend, wrote on his social media page.
Read: Afghanistan outplay Bangladesh in first ODI match marred by rain
While bidding farewell to Tamim, Mushfiqur regarded him as the best batter ever in Bangladesh.
"We batted together, shared the dressing room, and created numerous memories. I can't believe you will no longer play for Bangladesh," Litton Das also expressed his feelings on his social media page, accompanied by a broken heart emoji.
Not only teammates from the Bangladesh team, but players from other countries have also expressed their love for Tamim. Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews congratulated Tamim for his "stellar career" on Twitter.
"It was great to see you achieve so many great things since U-19!" he wrote. Dimuth Karunarathna, another Sri Lankan player, also took to Twitter to express his love for Tamim.
Also read: Litton Das replaces Tamim as Bangladesh's ODI captain
Since making his international debut in February 2007 against Zimbabwe, Tamim has emerged as one of Bangladesh's top batsmen. With an impressive tally of over 15,000 runs across 70 Tests, 241 ODIs, and 78 T20Is, he has cemented his position. Notably, Tamim holds the record for the highest number of centuries achieved by any Bangladeshi cricketer, boasting an impressive 25 centuries to his name.