NEWSBangladesh on Monday (February 12) reappointed Najmul Hossain Shanto as national cricket captain for all three formats for the coming year due to uncertainty over the availability of regular choice Shakib Al Hasan.
Najmul, 25, a top-order batter, led Bangladesh in their last two series against New Zealand at home and away, but he had been expected to hand over the charge to Shakib.
"We have elected [Najmul Hossain] Shanto as captain in all three formats," Hassan told a packed press conference following a board meeting in Mirpur," Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan told reporters.
"We discussed the national team captaincy for the longest time in this meeting. We spoke to Shakib, who told us that his eye problem hasn't gone away. We are not sure of his availability in the Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe home series. We also have to consider the T20 World Cup that's coming up.
"Shakib is definitely our first choice. But we don't want to stay in any uncertainty. We didn't want to delay the decision. We had the World Cup in mind, so to run the team smoothly, we had to pick a captain."
Nazmul referred to Shakib's eye problem he developed during the World Cup in India last year, and that forced him to seek treatment in Britain and Singapore. Shakib also missed several matches in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) due to the issue.
Bangladesh will play at least 14 Tests, nine one-day internationals, and 21 Twenty20 internationals this year, which includes the Twenty20 World Cup in the United States and West Indies. The BCB appointed former national captain Gazi Ashraf Hossain as the new chief selector.
Bangladesh will host Sri Lanka for three ODIs, three T20Is, and two Tests in their next series in March and April.
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