Najmul Hossain Shanto has stepped down as Bangladesh’s Test captain. This comes after earlier reports from Cricbuzz suggested he was unlikely to stay in the role. He made the announcement following Bangladesh’s heavy defeat to Sri Lanka by an innings and 78 runs in Colombo on Saturday.
"I have an announcement to make," he said at the post-match press conference. "I am stepping down from the Bangladesh Test captaincy. I don't want to continue as captain in this format, and I want to give a clear message to everyone: this is not a personal matter. It is entirely for the betterment of the team, and I believe this will help the team."
Najmul said he didn’t think it was necessary for Bangladesh to have three different captains for the three formats of cricket. That’s why he chose to step down. Earlier, he had already given up the T20I captaincy, and recently, the ODI captaincy was given to Mehidy Hasan.
"Over the last few years, I have had the opportunity to be in this dressing room, and I don't feel it is logical to have three captains for three formats. This is completely my personal opinion. The cricket board might think otherwise, and I fully respect that. In my view, having three captains will be difficult for the team. So, for the betterment of the team, I am stepping down," he explained.
"If the cricket board feels they will continue with three captains in three formats, that will be their decision. I just hope people don't see this as a personal issue or think I did this because I felt bad about the ODI captaincy snub. I want to make it clear again: this is for the betterment of the team. There is nothing personal here," he added.
"I already informed the cricket operations department a few days back," he said.
Recently, the Bangladesh Cricket Board took the ODI captaincy away from Najmul Hossain Shanto. This happened not long after Shanto stepped down as the T20I captain to focus more on his batting. Earlier this month, Mehidy Hasan Miraz was named the new ODI captain in his place.
Shanto had originally planned to step down from captaincy in all formats, but BCB president Faruque Ahmed spoke with him and persuaded him to continue leading the ODI and Test teams. It was agreed that he'd hand over the T20 captaincy so he could concentrate more on his batting. However, the BCB then removed him as the ODI skipper after making Mehidy their captain for a year.
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