Najmul Hossain Shanto QUITS Bangladesh Cricket as...

On Saturday, June 28, the 26-year-old star player Najmul Hossain Shanto officially announced that he will be quitting Bangladesh Cricket as the Test captain of the national team.

Najmul Hossain Shanto announced his decision to quit captaincy after the conclusion of the two-match Test series between the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team and the Bangladesh National Cricket Team.

Najmul Hossain Shanto steps down as Bangladesh lose Test series against Sri Lanka,

The first Test between the Bangladesh National Cricket Team and the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team ended in a draw at the Galle International Stadium.

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In the second Test match in Colombo, the Lankan Lions registered a dominant win by an innings and 78 runs to move to the No.3 spot in the ICC World Test Championship Points Table.

After the match, Najmul Hossain Shanto announced that he will be stepping down as Bangladesh Test captain. Earlier, it was reported by various media outlets that things are not good between Shanto and BCB, as he was poorly communicated before being sacked as ODI captain despite his desire to continue in the role.

Shanto was replaced by Mehidy Hasan Miraz as the Bangladesh ODI skipper, which led to BCB having three different captains across formats, as Litton Das was in charge of the T20I team.

I think three captains is not sensible - Najmul Hossain

Announcing his decision to quit Test captaincy at the press conference, Najmul Hossain Shanto revealed that he had informed the BCB's cricket operations department of his move "some days back".

Shanto added that he stepped down from the role solely for the betterment of the team because three different captains across formats is not a wise move.

"I don't want to continue [as captain] in the Test format anymore. This is not personal. I have taken the decision for the betterment of the team," Shanto said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I think this will help the team. I have been a part of the dressing room for the past few teams. I think three captains [for the three international formats] is not sensible."

I think three separate captains will be difficult for the team to deal with - Najmul Hossain Shanto

Najmul Hossain Shanto further said that handling three separate captains would be difficult for the BCB and the team management, but provided his full support to the board in whatever decision is made for the future.

"I don't know what the board will feel about this, and I will support their decision. But this is my personal decision. I think three separate captains will be difficult for the team to deal with," he added.

"I would want that no one feels this decision is emotional, or that I am disappointed by something. I want to make this clear. This is for the betterment of the team."

Talking about the captaincy record of Shanto, he led Bangladesh in 14 Test matches after taking over the role in 2023. He won just four matches and lost nine, with one draw at the helm, but led Bangladesh to a historic Test series win in Pakistan in 2024.