Najmul Hossain Shanto sparked a fresh batch of controversy by stepping 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.Ìý
‘I have an announcement: I don’t want to continue [as captain] in the Test format anymore,’ Shanto told reporters after Bangladesh’s defeat.
Shanto said that his decision reflected his thought of not wanting different captains in each of the three formats.Ìý
‘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.Ìý
‘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.
However, it was reported that the chairman of the cricket operations, Najmul Abedeen Fahim, denied such a conversation before Shanto announced his decision.
The BCB was also yet to give an official press release regarding Shanto’s resignation seven hours after the announcement.ÌýÌýÌý
Overall, under Shanto’s captaincy, Bangladesh won four Tests out of 14. His win percentage of 28.57 is still the best among the captains for Bangladesh for at least 10 matches.Ìý
The most memorable win of his tenure came last year, when Bangladesh clean swept Pakistan in a two-Test series in Pakistan.
Shanto’s decision of resigning from the Test captaincy will raise some eyebrows considering the results. He also hit record twin hundreds in the first Test against Sri Lanka.Ìý
Shanto was appointed captain in all three formats in February 2024, but he led Bangladesh in Tests before that.Ìý
But he wanted to step down from the captaincy in all three formats during South Africa’s tour of Bangladesh last October.ÌýÌý
However, Shanto then just stepped down as T20 captain, citing personal reasons. Liton Das was named as his successor in May this year.Ìý
But 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 during his press conference before the Sri Lanka tour.ÌýÌý
It was learnt that the left-handed batter started to plan for the 2027 World Cup.
But prior to the tour of Sri Lanka, BCB made a sudden move to replace him with Mehidy Hasan Miraz for unknown reasons.Ìý
Shanto was named in the ODI squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka starting on July 2.
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A file photo from June 25, 2025 shows Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto walking back to the pavilion after his dismissal on the first day of their second Test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.Ìý AFP photo
