Bangladesh cricket legend Tamin Iqbal is on life support having suffered a heart attack during a match on Monday.
The 36-year-old, who enjoyed a brief spell at Essex in 2017, was rushed to hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest while fielding during a Dhaka Premier League game.
Iqbal is said to have complained about chest pains shortly after the coin toss for his side Mohammedan Sporting Club’s encounter against Shinepukur Cricket Club.
Having still been issued by discomfort early into the match, he exited the field after just one over in the first innings.
He drove himself to be checked out by doctors at the KPJ Specialised Hospital and Nursing Home, but returned to the stadium, only for his condition to worsen.
Coach Montu Dutta told reporters: “He was in good spirits during the toss.
“When he felt sick, he left the field and took his own car to the hospital.
“The doctors there did not want to let him leave at the time, but Tamim left anyway and was arranging an air ambulance himself.”
After being rushed to hospital, Iqbal then underwent emergency angioplasty due to blockage in his arteries.
A medical bulletin from doctors read: “He returned to us in a critical condition.
“We can call it a heart attack, and we subsequently did an angiogram and angioplasty to remove the blockage.
“The medical procedure has gone smoothly. He is currently under observation.
“The swift coordination between the medical staff at BKSP and the hospital ensured Tamim was treated quickly.”
Meanwhile Bangladesh Cricket Board’s medical officer Debashis Chowdhury told AFP: “He suffered a heart attack.
“What I know so far is that his heart started to function better.”
Iqbal, who captained Bangladesh’s ODI side from 2020-2023, is his nation’s first cricketer to score a century in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup – doing so in 2016.
Across all forms of all international cricket, he scored over 15,000 runs from 391 appearances, before calling time on his career in January.
He featured in 70 Test matches between 2008-2023, where he notched up an impressive 25 centuries.
One of those centuries famously came against England in 2010, becoming the first and only Bangladeshi star to do so at Lord’s.
Iqbal also enjoyed time spent playing in England – first at Nottinghamshire in 2011 where he played in five T20 matches.
And six years later he returned to turn out for Essex, but he departed after just one game from his eight-match T20 Blast contract due to personal reasons.