Najmul Hossain Shanto likely to step down as Bangladesh Test captain

Bangladesh Test captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is reportedly set to relinquish his leadership role following the ongoing two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.

Sources close to the development confirmed on Saturday that the left-handed batter is expected to inform the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) of his decision soon. 

While it remains unclear whether he will make an official announcement after the second Test in Colombo or later, the matter is expected to be discussed further once he formally communicates his intent to the board.

"I think he will not continue as Test captain after the Test series against Sri Lanka," said the source who knows Najmul from close quarters.

"I have known him for a long time, and as far as I understand he is not happy with everything that is going around with him," he added on condition of anonymity.

Najmul, who was appointed Test captain for a year, is said to have held discussions with close confidants before arriving at this decision. 

His dissatisfaction reportedly stems from how the ODI captaincy was taken away from him in an unexpected and controversial manner.

Previously, Najmul had voluntarily stepped down as T20I captain to focus on his batting, while expressing his desire to continue leading the Test and ODI sides. 

However, the BCB's decision to strip him of ODI captaincy and replace him with Mehidy Hasan Miraz came as a surprise — especially since it was made during an emergency Zoom meeting on June 12, bypassing the usual protocol of addressing such matters in formal board meetings.

Adding to the awkwardness, Najmul was informed of his removal while he was preparing to meet head coach Phil Simmons to discuss plans for the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka. 

Reportedly, Simmons was left waiting as Najmul abruptly departed after being called by BCB’s cricket operations chairman Nazmul Abedin to break the news.

According to insiders, the move blindsided Najmul, who had already begun strategic discussions with players regarding their roles in the ODI setup for the Sri Lanka tour.

Despite speculation about Najmul's displeasure, BCB President Aminul Islam publicly denied any fallout. In an interview with Kaler Kantho published on June 21, Aminul said Najmul had accepted the decision with grace.

"Coming to Shanto's point, his captaincy was not taken away, rather the decision was taken with everyone's consent in the board. We decided to have a new and different plan. As we are currently playing lots of matches of all formats, we wanted to go with three different captains," Aminul Islam said.

As Litton and Shanto are captaining the T20 and Test side respectively, and Shanto is performing well in Tests, we thought that if Miraz leads the ODI side, Shanto will concentrate better in other formats. It was the board's policy decision," he added.

He further claimed that the appointed official had communicated the decision to Najmul and reported that the latter took it sportingly, attributing any controversy to misinformation and misunderstanding.

However, with Najmul now set to vacate his final leadership role, questions are likely to intensify about the internal dynamics within Bangladesh cricket and the handling of captaincy transitions.

"It was our plan that one of us would talk to Shanto. That person later reported that he did his job and Shanto received the decision quite cordially. Maybe the situation went differently because of some false news and misunderstanding. To conclude, there are two sides of this situation: the decision was taken with the consent of everyone in the board and Shanto took it sportingly," he stated.