Najmul Hossain Shanto To Captain Bangladesh In New Zealand Tests; Litton Das Given Leave

Najmul Hossain Shanto will be captaining Bangladesh in the two-match home Test series against New Zealand. This comes after regular skipper Shakib Al Hasan was ruled out of the series after he faced an injury during the ICC World Cup 2023 game.

The first Test between Bangladesh and New Zealand will begin on November 28 in Sylhet and after a short break, the second game will take place from December 6 in Dhaka. Apart from Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh will also be without the services of Taskin Ahmed due to his recurring shoulder injury.

Litton Das will also miss the series as he has been granted one-month leave. He asked for a sabbatical to be his wife and newborn baby. It’ll be a difficult task for Bangladesh as they will be without some of their key players. This means that it’ll be an opportunity for some youngsters to stake their claim in the national team.

Bangladesh Cricket Board Director (BCB) Jalal Yunus talked about the developments and confirmed that Najmul Hossain Shanto will captain the team. Speaking to reporters, he explained (as quoted by DailyStar):

“Najmul Hossain Shanto will be the captain for the two-match Test series against New Zealand. Liton asked for a month’s leave. He will not play the two Tests so that he can spend time exclusively with his family.”

BAN vs NZ: You can’t force him to play the national team – Jalal Yunus on Litton Das not playing

Jalal Yunus targeted Das, saying that they cannot force someone to play for the national side. He revealed that they wanted him to play one game but he didn’t agree. He explained:

“We wanted him to play one Test, but he kept insisting for a month’s leave. So we agreed to grant him the leave. If someone doesn’t want to play, you can’t force him to play the national team. The professionalism must come from his heart.”

The series will be important for both the team in the context of the ICC World Test Championship. After the two Tests, Bangladesh and New Zealand will take on each other in the white-ball series, which will be played in New Zealand in December.