Shakib Al Hasan appointed Bangladesh Test skipper

Veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been named the new Test captain of Bangladesh after Mominul Haque decided to step down following a 0-1 loss in the recently-concluded two-match home series against Sri Lanka. Mominul had taken this decision of relinquishing captaincy since he wanted to focus on his batting. Meanwhile, Litton Das has been appointed as his deputy.

It is to be noted that Mominul had succeeded Shakib as Bangladesh’s red-ball captain following a ban imposed on the latter by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2019 as he failed to report corrupt approaches. Under Mominul, Bangladesh went on to register three Test victories, two draws, and 12 losses in 17 games.

Mominul had approached the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan and made it clear that he wanted to concentrate on his batting and requested the board to hand the captaincy responsibilities to someone else.

”I just told them that I am unable to contribute to the side as a captain and failed to motivate the team. So I feel it is better if someone new is given the responsibility. I told them (what was going through my mind) and now it is up to them to decide,” Mominul was quoted by Cricbuzz.

“I feel it is not right for me to do captaincy at the moment because what I feel is that if I can concentrate on my batting, it will be good for me as well as for the team. It’s not because of out of any fear or anything like that. Look, when you play well, even if the team does not perform, you can still motivate. I am not doing well and the team is not performing at this point, captaining the side is very difficult,” he added.

Meanwhile, this will be Shakib’s third stint as Bangladesh Test captain. His first stint was way back in 2009 when all-rounder Mashrafe Mortaza was injured during their tour to West Indies. The southpaw then took over the captaincy duties from wicketkeeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim in 2017.