Top-order batter Najmul Hossain Shanto has stepped down as Test captain of Bangladesh, following the team’s 0-1 series loss to Sri Lanka.
Shanto stepped down from his role, citing the team’s ‘betterment’.
Sri Lanka hammered Bangladesh down in the second Test of the two-match series in Colombo with an innings and a 78-run win. Following the loss, Shanto made the announcement. Notably, he was earlier extended as Test captain for a year ahead of the Sri Lanka Test series.
“I don’t want to continue [as captain] in the Test format anymore,” Shanto said in the press conference after his team’s loss. “This is not personal. I have taken the decision for the betterment of the team.”
Shanto feels that three different captains is not a sensible thing
Meanwhile, Shanto stated that having three different captains for three formats is ‘not sensible’. “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. I don’t know what the board will feel about this, and I will support their decision. But this is my personal decision. I think three separate captains will be difficult for the team to deal with.
“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.
BCB recently took the ODI captaincy away from Shanto
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Board had recently snatched the ODI captaincy away from Shanto after he had quit as T20I skipper to focus on his batting. He was replaced by Mehidy Hasan Miraz as the ODI captain earlier this month.
Initially, Shanto had decided to leave captaincy across formats; however, the BCB president, Faruque Ahmed, had convinced him to keep the ODI and Test captaincy under his ambit and leave the third format’s leadership to focus on his batting.
However, the BCB then removed him as the ODI skipper after making Mehidy their captain for a year.