Najmul Hossain Shanto was named captain of Bangladesh for their upcoming two-match Test series against New Zealand, which will begin on November 28 at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
The left-handed bowler, who is 25 years old, will be Bangladesh’s 13th leader in Tests. Shakib Al Hasan, who is currently captain, is still out with a finger injury.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) made the announcement yesterday and named a 15-person team. Hasan Murad, a left-arm spinner, was given his first national call-up.
In the National Cricket League, which ended not long ago, Murad was eighth on the charts for wicket-takers with 19 scalps in seven innings. Nayeem Hasan, an off-spinner who returned to the team, was first on the chart with 34 scalps in 11 innings.
Many changes had to be made by BCB. Opener Shadman Islam, wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan Sohan, pacer Hasan Mahmud, and Murad and Nayeem were brought in instead of Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, and Mushfik Hasan.
Taskin, Ebadot, and normal captain Shakib were not allowed to play because they were hurt. However, BCB has not yet met with Tamim to talk about his future after a series of events that caused him to decide not to play in the World Cup.
Liton, who led the Tigers in the one-off Test against Afghanistan earlier this year, was given one month off to care for his newborn child. According to reports, the board asked the right-handed hitter to play in at least one game since the series was being played at home. However, the 29-year-old refused to play and wanted to sit out the whole series.
Selector Habibul Bashar was unhappy with the changes that the selection panel had to make. Bangladesh’s first match in the new ICC Test Championship will be against New Zealand.
“We would have liked to play our regular team because this series is the first one in the new cycle of the ICC Test Championship.” After getting hurt, we had to make the changes we did,” Bashar told The Daily Star.
Bashar agreed that Shakib’s loss is a blow because he adds balance to the team, but he also said that the Tigers’ pace unit isn’t as strong now that Taskin and Ebadot aren’t playing. Both of them have been regular starts in Tests.
“It’s not good to lose Shakib. It’s a big loss for us because he is very good with both the bat and the ball. “Our team has four spin bowlers, but the loss of Taskin and Ebadot has made us weaker in pace bowling,” he said.
The first Test will take place from November 28 to December 2. The second Test will take place in Dhaka from December 6 to 10.