BCB likely to remove Mushfiqur Rahim as Test captain and wicketkeeper

Despite having a terrific time with the bat in the ongoing India v Bangladesh Test at Hyderabad, Mushfiqur Rahim might soon have to leave the coveted captaincy post of the national side. Rahim was appointed as the captain of the national side in all three formats of the game back in 2011. In the year 2014, he was removed as the skipper of the limited overs side.

Now, as per the reports in Cricwizz, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is pondering over dropping him as the Test skipper too. The move comes in as an effort to let Mushfiqur Rahim concentrate on his batting. The Bangla Tigers are scheduled to tour Sri Lanka in March for a full tour. During the tour, they will play two Test matches.

The BCB President Nazmul Hasan mentioned that they have been considering this option for quite some time. “We have been thinking about that [Removing Mushfiqur as a Test captain and keeper to help him concentrate more as a batsman] for past six months. I feel it is time up for him,” Hasan said.

It is not just the captaincy that is likely to be taken away from Rahim. The board also wishes to play another wicket keeper in the lineup and free Rahim from the duties of the keeper too. They apparently want their ‘best batsman’ to concentrate only on batting. However, the big question that comes up is about the replacement.

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The BCB president also reflected back at the same as he quoted, “I have spoken with him [Mushfiqur] about the captaincy issue. But during the match, we are not going to talk about it. We are thinking about this. But the problem is if we remove him, who will take charge. No one wants to take responsibility of the Test team.”

Adding further on the wicket keeping note, Nazmul Hasan cited that in a bid to include a full time keeper in the side and have Mushfiqur Rahim as a pure batsman, they will have to find a scape goat who will have to miss out from the line up. Talking about his recent performances, Rahim had a forgettable with the gloves during the ongoing Test. He missed a simple stumping of Wriddhiman Saha during the Indian innings. Also, he failed to get his act together with the reviews. All 4 reviews taken by him turned out to be unsuccessful.

“He [Mushfiqur] is Bangladesh’s best batsman. But he is very disappointed [On his keeping]. But if we play Mushfiqur only as a batsman and add another keeper in the playing eleven, whom will we drop? In that case, unfortunately, Sabbir Rahman or Riad [Mahmudullah] might face the axe. This is our only option. We will take a final call on this issue very soon,” conceded BCB President Nazmul Hasan.