Shakib Al Hasan to be re-appointed as Bangladesh’s Test captain?

Bangladesh Test team has dealt with a big blow as Mominul Haque has stepped down as a captain. Haque cited a lack of form for the decision. Talking about his captaincy, he started leading the team in 2019 when Hasan was banned by the World Cricket Governing Council. For the unversed, the all-rounder was banned for his failure to report spot-fixing approaches.

Mominul has captained 17 games and the team has managed to win only three games. One of them was the historic win against New Zealand early this year. The team has lost two consecutive series to South Africa and Sri Lanka. With the bat, the left-hander only managed 162 runs in six games at an average of 16.2. Notably, Shakib Al Hasan might end up leading his side once again.

Bangladesh Cricket Board chief Nazmul Hasan said that Hasan can be the skipper of the team but his availability will be a big question. Nazmul added that Shakib can need to be available for all the games if he becomes the captain. The BCC chief further added that the board will about the cricketer’s availability.

“Shakib can be a skipper in any format. But we need to know whether he will play or not (Test cricket regularly),” Nazmul told Cricbuzz.

“If he says that he won’t go or choose a format then it will be a problem. Shakib was our skipper and there is no doubt about his captaincy. But we also need to be sure about his availability.

“He cannot make last minute decisions about his availability when he is the captain. We have to discuss with him first. We cannot make someone a captain on a whim and so have to take a well thought-out (decision),” Nazmul said.

Apart from Shakib, Liton Das, who has been an in-form player in the last few months, can be the contender for the captaincy in the longest format. It will be interesting to see which one of these players is entrusted with the responsibility.