Bangladesh's all-format skipper Najmul Hossain informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) that he is not ready to lead the country following the ongoing two-match Test series against South Africa.
BCB appointed Najmul as the all-format captain for one year in February 2024 and was expected to lead the side in the Champions Trophy in February next year.
Najmul is waiting for approval of the board president Faruque Ahmed, who is currently abroad and expected to arrive soon.
“Yes, he informed us that he is not ready to lead the side after the South Africa series,” a top BCB official confirmed to the media.
A top BCB director is trying to convince him so that he changes his mind but it seems unlikely unless he is assured that he will get full backing from the board which seems not to be the case in the recent past.
It was learned that following the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies, Najmul decided to step down from the captaincy role of the shorter format but later changed his mind and wanted to quit all three formats.
In the recent past, Najmul’s captaincy came under scrutiny after a prolonged lean patch from several quarters.
If eventually Najmul doesn't agree to lead the side after the ongoing Test series against South Africa, the board might opt to hand over the Test and ODI captaincy to Mehidy Hasan while giving the T20 captaincy to Towhid Hridoy.
Najmul led Bangladesh in nine Tests and earned three wins and six losses. In the nine ODIs that he captained, Bangladesh lost six out of them while won three matches.
In T20I he led the side in 24 games where he earned 10 wins while lost 13 out of them with no result in one of them.
Bd-Pratidin English/ Afsar Munna
