Bangladesh’s Test captain Najmul Hossain Shanto might step down from his position after the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, according to a report from Cricbuzz. No official word has come out yet, but it seems he’s not happy with recent developments, especially after losing his job as ODI captain.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) surprised everyone by naming Mehidy Hasan Miraz as the new ODI captain during a quick Zoom meeting on June 12. This caught many off guard since Najmul had told the board he intended to keep his roles as Test and ODI captain after leaving the T20I position to focus on his batting.
A source close to Najmul said, I don’t think he’ll stick around as Test captain after the Sri Lanka series. They added that he’s not pleased with how things are going. Najmul was initially convinced by former BCB President Faruque Ahmed to remain the captain for Tests and ODIs, but the sudden change without a proper board meeting really upset him.
He learned of his removal right before a meeting with head coach Phil Simmons, which only added to his frustration, especially since he had been gearing up for the upcoming ODI series with the players.
Despite all the drama, BCB President Aminul Islam claimed there was no animosity. In an interview on June 21, he said, Regarding Shanto, his captaincy wasn’t taken away; the decision was made with everyone’s agreement. We wanted a new and different plan since we have a lot of matches coming up, so we decided to go with three different captains.
So far, Najmul has captained Bangladesh in 13 Tests, scoring 879 runs. Under his leadership, the team has won four matches, lost eight, and their latest game against Sri Lanka ended in a draw. In ODIs, he’s also led the team in 13 matches, with four wins and nine losses.