DHAKA: Bangladesh’s renowned batter and ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal on Sunday announced his retirement from T20 Internationals.

Tamim Iqbal, 33, took to Facebook to share the news with his fans shortly after leading the ODI side to a 3-0 series win against West Indies.

“Consider me retired from T20 international from today,” Tamim wrote on his Facebook page.

It ends speculations over the last several weeks about his decision to continue playing the format he had taken a break from in January this year. He said at the time that he is going to take a break of six months from T20Is, ESPN cricinfo reported.

“My full focus will be on Tests and ODIs,” Tamim said on January 27 this year. “We are preparing for the World Test Championship and qualification for the 2023 World Cup. I will not be thinking about T20Is in the next six months. I hope that those playing will do so well, that the team won’t need me in T20Is. But if God forbid the team or cricket board needs me, and I am ready, I will possibly think about it.”

Tamim had kept himself away from this format since the middle of last year when he made the surprising decision to voluntarily pull out of contention from the T20 World Cup in the UAE. Tamim stepped away to give Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Naim an extended run as openers, although both failed and were later dropped from the T20I side.

He last played a T20I in March 2020 when he made 41 off 33 balls against Zimbabwe. He was criticised in some quarters in the T20I series before that, in Pakistan, when he made 65 off 53 balls.

In his 15 years T20I career, Tamim played 75 games for his side. He remains the only batter with a century for Bangladesh, finishing as the third highest run-scorer with 1701 runs at 24.65 average. Tamim is likely to continue playing in domestic T20 competitions.