Ex-Bangladesh cricket captain Tamim Iqbal improving after cardiac arrest

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) — Former Bangladesh cricket captain Tamim Iqbal’s condition has improved, doctors said Tuesday, after he was hospitalized following cardiac arrest during a Twenty20 match.

The 36-year-old Tamim was being kept under observation after undergoing an emergency procedure to address a blockage in one of the arteries of his heart, according to the Bangladesh Cricket Board. He reportedly complained of chest pains while fielding as he was leading the Mohammedan team against Shinepukur in Savar in the Dhaka Premier Division.

Abdul Wadud Chowdhury, director of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, visited Tamim on Tuesday and gave a positive diagnosis, while remaining cautious.

“We were studying his heart’s function through an eco cardiograph this morning. It shows everything is alright, as if there is no problem,” Chowdhury said in quotes carried by the Prothom Alo newspaper in Bangladesh. “But we must remember that this is a veil. An abnormal beat could be there again.”

Chowdhury said the risk to Tamim is “very small, less than 1%.”

“But if something happens, then the risk is 100% for the patient,” he added. “Tamim is Tamim, our national asset. He should stay here (in the hospital) for 48-72 hours. Then he could move.”

Chowdhury said Tamim “should talk a little, should take rest and should not be agitated about anything.”

In a message to his 7.9 million followers on his Facebook page, Tamim — the only Bangladesh batter to score centuries in all three international formats — said he had been “lucky” to have had “amazing people by my side” and expressed his “heartfelt gratitude and love to all of you.”

Tamim scored more than 5,000 test runs in his 15 years as Bangladesh’s opener, including 10 centuries and a top score of 206 against Pakistan in 2015.

He amassed more than 8,000 one-day international runs with 14 centuries and a best of 158, and hit one T20 hundred.

In late 2023, Tamim opted out of the ODI World Cup after a dispute with a BCB member.

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