Najmul Hossain Shanto has stepped down as the captain of the Bangladesh Test team following his team’s defeat to Sri Lanka in the second and final Test by an innings and 78 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo on Saturday.
Bangladesh lost the series 1-0 after drawing the first Test at Galle. ‘I have an announcement: I don't want to continue [as captain] in the Test format anymore,’ Shanto told reporters after Bangladesh’s defeat.
‘I want to make this clear; this is not personal. I have taken the decision for the betterment of the team,’ he said. ‘I think this will help the team. I have been a part of the dressing room for the past few years. I think three captains [for the three international formats] is not sensible.
This is my personal view.’ ‘The cricket board might think differently, and I will fully honour that. I think three separate captains will be difficult for the team to deal with. But if the board still wants to keep three different captains, that’s their decision,’ he added.
Shanto also mentioned that emotion played no part in taking his decision. He said, 'I would want that no one feels this decision is emotional or that I am disappointed by something. I want to make this clear. This is for the betterment of the team.’
Shanto also said that he informed the cricket operations of the Bangladesh Cricket Board about the issue a few days earlier. Shanto was appointed captain in all three formats in February 2024 but he led Bangladesh in Tests before that.
Overall, under his captaincy, Bangladesh won four Tests out of 14. The most memorable win came last year, when Bangladesh clean swept Pakistan in a two-Test series in Pakistan.
Shanto first stepped down as T20 captain, citing personal reasons. Liton Das was named as his successor.
However, he didn’t mention leaving the role from the ODI format. He even talked about how it would be better to give the captaincy to someone for a longer term.
But prior to the tour of Sri Lanka, BCB made a sudden move to replace him with Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Shanto was named in the ODI squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka starting on July 2.