BCB chief Faruque Ahmed says Shanto will continue to lead Bangladesh in the longer formats though
Najmul Hossain Shanto is set to continue to lead Bangladesh in the longer formats • PTI
Najmul Hossain Shanto has quit as Bangladesh’s T20I captain. BCB president Faruque Ahmed told a local newspaper that Shanto had informed the board of his decision but will continue to lead in Tests and ODIs.
“Shanto has finally informed us that he will not continue as the T20I captain. We have accepted his decision. There’s however no T20s coming up, so we will not think about a new captain just yet. We have an understanding with Shanto that when he is fit, he will continue as the Test and ODI captain,” Faruque told the Dhaka-based Prothom Alo on Thursday.
This puts to rest the captaincy debate after Shanto had expressed reluctance towards being all-format captain back in October. At the time Faruque convinced Shanto to continue as captain across formats. Shanto however got injured during an ODI against Afghanistan in November, which prevented him from touring the West Indies.
There, Bangladesh handed the Test and ODI captaincy to Mehidy Hasan Miraz. The visitors drew the Test series 1-1, before they lost the ODIs 3-0. Litton Das then led the T20I side to a 3-0 series win. Whether that T20I result pushed the BCB into agreeing with Shanto is unknown, but the fact that Mehidy and Litton were good enough to be considered part of the leadership group was good news for Bangladeshi cricket.
Shanto became Bangladesh’s all-format captain in February 2024. The appointment came on the back of impressive stints against New Zealand at home and away, in the absence of then-captain Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh’s subsequent T20I performances however were great as they lost bilateral series against Sri Lanka and USA. They managed to reach the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup last June but did not win a match in that round.
Shanto too suffered a nosedive in form in the format, scoring just a single fifty in his 24 matches in charge, averaging 18.76 as the T20I captain despite having shown improved form in the format after the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. Whether he continues to be part of Bangladesh’s T20I side depends largely on his form during in the ongoing BPL.
Bangladesh’s next T20I assignment is likely to be a three-match series against Zimbabwe in March this year. Litton could be a frontrunner for the captaincy given his showing in the West Indies. That said, he has been off colour with the bat in white-ball cricket of late.
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