Captaincy front-runner, Najmul Hossain Shanto urges BCB to offer full freedom

Najmul Hossain Shanto urges BCB to offer full freedom

Bangladesh Test and ODI captain Najmul Hossain has expressed his desire to step down from captaincy due to the pressure of managing the team across all formats. He was appointed as the across-formats skipper until the 2025 Champions Trophy and has urged the board to give authority and priority to the next captain.

Najmul displayed his leadership qualities during the World Cup games against India and Australia in 2023, following Shakib Al Hasan's unavailability due to an eye problem. Under his leadership, Bangladesh earned their maiden Test win against New Zealand at home and their maiden ODI and T20I win against New Zealand in their own backyard.

His biggest achievement came in Pakistan when they made history with a clean sweep over the hosts in the two-match Test series in August 2023. However, they were humiliated in all games of the five-ODI series in India that followed.

Najmul also guided Bangladesh in the second round of the T20 World Cup in 2024 but decided to step down as the across-format captain after the South Africa series. He eventually left the captaincy in the shortest format.

He felt that juggling between formats was difficult and wanted to enjoy his batting. Najmul had a long meeting with BCB president Faruque Ahmed, who promised him all the freedom to run the team as a leader. Najmul believes that the board is yet to talk with him regarding captaincy, and he would like to see the new leader having more authority and priority.

The BCB is also due to decide on their head coach Phil Simmons, whose contract ended with the Champions Trophy. Najmul has expressed his enjoyment in working with Simmons and hopes that both their contracts are renewed.