After months of discussions and observations following the 2023 World Cup debacle, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) named Najmul Hossain Shanto as the new captain in all three formats. The BCB President Nazmul Hassan confirmed the news on Monday (Feb 12), adding that Shanto is being handed over the reins for 12 months.

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Though the board considered the team’s future while naming the 25-year-old as the new all-format captain, removing Shakib Al Hasan from the T20I captaincy shocked everyone. 

Following last year’s 10-team tournament in India, after which Shakib decided to quit ODI captaincy, he vowed to lead the team in the T20 World Cup later in June this year in the West Indies and the USA. As per his statement in the lead-up to the 2023 World Cup, Shakib decided against continuing leading in the longer formats, including Tests; however, the BCB reconsidered his name for the ODI captaincy during this process but overlooked Shakib after the veteran informed them of his eye condition.

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With BCB removing Shakib from the post, Shanto will take over the captain’s hat and lead the Tigers in the marquee event.

“We have decided to appoint Najmul Hossain Shanto across all formats. He will serve the national team as skipper this year,” Nazmul told reporters. 

“I have talked to Shakib. His eye issue is still causing problems. There is some uncertainty regarding his participation in Sri Lanka. The World Cup is very near. So we didn’t want to take any chance,” he said.

“We are not sure about Shakib’s availability and that is why we picked Shanto (Najmul) for all three formats,” he added.

While under Shakib’s leadership during different tenures in over a decade, Bangladesh tasted success, mostly at home, where last year against England they won the T20I series. 

Bangladesh ready to rise under Shanto’s leadership

On the contrary, under Shanto’s tutelage, Bangladesh fought well against New Zealand at home last year, drawing the two-match Test series. During the away white-ball tour that followed, Bangladesh won one ODI and a T20I, both under Shanto’s captaincy.

The board not only made changes to the leadership group in the team but also announced Gazi Ashraf Hossain as the new chief selector, replacing Minhajul Abedin, who held the post for eight years. While the former captain  Habibul Bashar also exited as the selector, the board announced the addition of Hannan Sarkar to the panel. 

Meanwhile, Shanto has featured in 25 Tests, 42 ODIs and 28 T20Is for Bangladesh, scoring 1449, 1202 and 602 runs, respectively, including seven centuries and 14 fifties. 

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