Shanto to lead in all formats

Agency :
Najmul Hossain Shanto is the regular Captain of Bangladesh Cricket team in three formats now.

Shakib Al Hasan may not be seen tossing for the Tigers again. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has reconsidered the captaincy as Shakib is not interested in leadership.

Before going to play the ODI World Cup in India, Shakib said that at the end of the season, he did not want to be the captain for another day. At the end of the World Cup, Bangladesh played a bilateral series, but Shakib was not there due to injury.

Najmul Hossain Shanto led Bangladesh in all three formats in the New Zealand series in Shakib’s absence. Although serving as interim captain of the service, he is now given full-time leadership.

The official announcement came on Monday after the board meeting. A Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) source confirmed this matter on Monday.

“We discussed at length about captaincy… The board has decided to appoint Nazmul Hossain Shanto as captain for all three formats for this year”, Youth and Sports Minister and BCB President Najmul Hassan Papon told the reporters after the meeting.

Papon said that Shakib was still their ‘Number 1 choice for captaincy’ but they had to make the change owing to the uncertainty about Shakib’s availability due to his eye problems.

Shanto has led Bangladesh in 11 matches so far across formats. Bangladesh played a total of 2 matches under his captaincy in white clothes. Where the Tigers have won one match against a loss in one Test.

Bangladesh lost 5 matches after playing 6 matches under the leadership of Shanto in ODIs. On the contrary, the red-green team won the match. Captain Shanto has won 1 and lost 1 in 3 matches in T20I. Another match was abandoned.

Former Bangladesh captain Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu was named Chief selector.

Former players Hannan Sarker and Abdur Razzaq will fill the other two spots in the national selection panel, with the latter retaining his spot from the previous panel, while Habibul Bashar was excluded from the lineup.

Bangladesh’s first ODI captain, Lipu, is a former BCB director and also served as the team manager during Bangladesh’s first World Cup appearance in 1999.