Colombo [Sri Lanka], June 28 : Najmul Hossain Shanto announced his decision to step down as Bangladesh Test captain after his side endured a 1-0 series defeat against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday.
After the opening Test ended in a draw, Bangladesh arrived in Colombo looking to add crucial points in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle. Compared to the series opener, Bangladesh batters failed to put up a robust performance and surrendered an emphatic defeat by an innings and 78 runs.
In the aftermath of Bangladesh's heartbreaking defeat, Shanto decided to step down from the Test captaincy role and said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo, "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. I think this will help the team. I have been a part of the dressing room for the past few years.
"I think three captains [for the three international formats] is not sensible. 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. 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," he added.
Shanto tried to explain that his decision wasn't personal, considering the timing of it. Earlier this year, he stepped down as T20I captain. Before Bangladesh's departure, Shanto expressed his interest in continuing with the ODI leadership role. However, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) sacked him from his role and replaced him with Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
"I just hope people don't see this as a personal issue or think I did this because I felt bad about the ODI captaincy snub. I want to make it clear again: this is for the betterment of the team. There is nothing personal here. I already informed the cricket operations department a few days back," he said.
With Shanto at the helm, Bangladesh won four out of 14 Tests, which began with a victory over New Zealand in Sylhet in November 2023. The Tigers topped it up with a historic series whitewash in Pakistan in August last year. He became the first Bangladesh captain to hammer twin centuries in a Test in Sri Lanka and averaged 36.24 during his stint.
Bangladesh will have time to identify the new Test captain as their next red-ball assignment will be against Ireland in October. As of now, Litton Das leads the T20I side, while Mehidy is the skipper of the ODI team.