Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal had to end his first season in the Indian Premier League as a spectator with Pune Warriors, who ended their campaign with a 34-run home
defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday.
Tamim had been kept waiting for his turn, which never came, with the Warriors and despite an overall poor performance by the side he must be feeling really unlucky not
to have made his debut.
Warriors were able to win just four games out of the 16 they played, making an IPL record of most number of consecutive defeats, as they received little contributions
from their foreign players.
Left-hander Tamim was picked by Pune after his brilliant performance with the bat, four consecutive 50s, in the Asia Cup and even justified his selection with a 57-run
knock in a practice match and it is only known to the team management why he wasn’t given a chance.
Australian Steven Smith was in superb form all through the competition, but he lacked support as all other foreign players failed to deliver. With the passage of each
game, Tamim’s playing chances increased, but eventually he was just kept waiting.
Sri Lankan Angelo Matthews played nine matches to score only 127 runs while West Indian Marlon Samuels scored 124 runs in eight matches. Australians Michael Clarke, 98
runs in six matches, and Callum Ferguson, 50 runs in four matches, might also feel lucky as they got their chances.
Tamim has now become the only Bangladeshi not to play any game despite being picked by an IPL franchise. Abdur Razzak, Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Mohammad Ashraful and
Sakib al Hasan all had their chances though, barring Sakib, none could make a good use of it. Sakib had a decent outing for the KKR with 10 wickets in six matches,
and when needed he also came up with a handy score with the bat as well.
He helped KKR secure the number two position to qualify for the play-offs and received his second man of the match award in their last group match against Pune.
The world number one all-rounder scored 42 from 30 balls when KKR were in deep trouble and helped them reach a respectable total of 136 runs before helping his side
defend it successfully by claiming 2-18.
-With New Age input
