Tamim solves BD women team captain’s bat issue

DHAKA: Ahead of Bangladesh’s tour of South Africa, ODI captain Rumana Ahmed had a problem. Both her new bats had been stolen. An Australian sports outlet had given them to her when she went to the WBBL earlier this year.

A couple of days before the team’s flight to Johannesburg, Rumana called Tamim Iqbal and asked if he could arrange a bat for her. Luckily for Rumana, Tamim had a special one with him in Mirpur.

Within 15 minutes, Tamim arranged for a meet-up in the BCB office where he handed over the bat to Rumana. But she had a question.“How much should I pay?” she asked. “What? You don’t have to pay,” Tamim said. “This is for you. Come from South Africa, I will arrange asponsor for your team.”

Normally, Rumana tries to source high-quality bats from abroad, since they are difficult to find in Dhaka and the Bangladesh women cricketers aren’t at the economic level of their male counterparts. Rumana is probably the best paid among the current women players but still, a good bat would cost her as much as her BCB monthly salary of BDT 30,000 (USD 350 approx).Rumana will lead Bangladesh in what is expected to be a difficult ODI series in South Africa. A good bat will help, no doubt.