Shanto's Test captaincy future doubtful

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto doesn’t want to lead the Bangladesh Test cricket team. He is likely to end his Test captaincy at the end of the ongoing home Test series against South Africa. 

Bangladesh are currently busy hosting South Africa in a two-match Test series. While Bangladesh lost the first Test by seven wickets at Mirpur, Chattogram will host the second Test from October 29. 

Shanto recently led the Bangladesh team to win a Test series in Pakistan

Last August, Shanto led the Bangladesh Test team to create history in Pakistan. In that tour, Bangladesh not only beat Pakistan in Test cricket for the first time, but they also secured that away Test series.

However, in their next tour in India, Bangladesh lost the Test series by 2-0. Further, the Tigers lost the three-match T20I series by 3-0. 

Due to suffering three straight losses, Bangladesh have slipped down to the eighth position in the 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship points table. 

Now, Shanto wants to step down from the captaincy role in Test cricket. A top BCB official also confirmed it to Cricbuzz.

The Cricbuzz report claimed that the official said, "Yes, he informed us that he is not ready to lead the side after the South Africa series.”

Later, the Bangladesh captain also talked about his present status. Shanto told Cricbuzz, “Let's see what happens (as far as leading Bangladesh is concerned) because I am still waiting to hear it from the president (BCB).”

Shanto has led the Bangladesh team in nine Test matches, where his team won three and lost six games. 

Bangladesh cricket experiencing many key changes

We can even experience Shanto’s resignation from the captaincy role in all formats. His captaincy is always under scrutiny due to a lack of consistent success. 

According to media reports, Shanto decided to step down from the T20I captaincy after their elimination from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. Later, he reportedly decided to resign from leadership roles in all formats. However, he is currently active in leading the team in all three formats. 

Bangladesh cricket is now facing some massive changes. In the current political turmoil in the country, Bangladesh cricket has already seen its presidential change along with the head coach controversy and change. The senior cricketers are also deciding to retire from at least one or two formats.