The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Director Nazmul
Abedin Fahim today said they are yet to get any official document on Najmul
Hossain Shanto’s decision to quit captaincy from all format of cricket.
Shanto reportedly expressed his desire to step down from the captaincy after
the second Test against South Africa, beginning on Tuesday at Zahur Ahmed
Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
“I also have heard from you and saw in the TV scroll (about Shanto’s decision
to step down),” Fahim said here today.
“I heard that he even officially declared his decision. If so, I haven’t got
any official document. I even don’t know about it officially. I can’t tell
you that whether it’s true or not. But if it happens, it’s big news for us.”
Shanto was appointed as captain across formats for one year in February 2024
and he was expected to lead the side in the Champions Trophy next year.
Shanto’s captaincy was top notch in the brief period but he has come under
scrutiny from several quarters for his prolonged lean pat
ch with the batting.
Fahim said BCB would like to discuss with him in this regard because they
invested a lot of time on him.
“The board has to take a big decision if they want to prepare another one for
the captaincy. We’ve to sit and take a decision whether we’ll try to convince
him because an incident had happened,” Fahim said.
“And BCB of course will want to discuss about it because Shanto has been
leading the side for quite some time now and there was an investment of time
on him. We were trying to prepare him. And if he now suddenly steps down,
what will be the option! We haven’t any ready option at this moment.”
Najmul said they will try to get a best solution of this crisis.
“It’s not that you can stop playing after losing three or four wickets in
quick succession. Situation is now exactly like this. So we have to take
decision. We try to find out a best solution.”
Bangladesh won three and lost six under Shanto’s captaincy with the highlight
being a maiden Test series win over Pakistan.
He led Bangladesh in the nine
ODIs in which the side lost six and won three matches. In T20Is, he led the
side in 24 games and earned 10 wins as captain.
He was reportedly to quit captaincy from the T20 format after the T20 World
Cup in June but later changed his mind and decided to quit from all format.
Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha