Sports Desk:

Najmul Hossain Shanto announced that he will be stepping down from Test captaincy after Bangladesh suffered a heavy defeat of an innings and 78 runs in the Colombo Test on Saturday.

“I have an announcement to make — I am stepping down as the Test captain of the Bangladesh team,” Shanto announced in the post-match press conference.

Shanto also said he did not feel Bangladesh needed three captains in three formats.

“Over the last few years, I have had the opportunity to be in this dressing room, and I don’t feel it is logical to have three captains for three formats. This is completely my personal opinion. The cricket board might think otherwise, and I fully respect that. In my view, having three captains will be difficult for the team. So, for the betterment of the team, I am stepping down,” he explained.

“If the cricket board feels they will continue with three captains in three formats that will be their decision. 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,” he added.

He also said that he had already informed the cricket board about his decision. “I already informed the cricket operations department a few days back,” he said.

Bangladesh national team manager Nafis Iqbal, who was present at the press conference, took the opportunity to thank Shanto for his services on behalf of the BCB.

“Thank you so much for your contributions, and we wish you all the best for the upcoming challenges,” he said.

It was assumed that Shanto would step down from his role as reported that Shanto was ‘seriously considering’ stepping down from Test captaincy once the series concludes.

“The possibility of him staying on as captain is very slim,” a close associate of Shanto told journalist before the start of Colombo Test.

Shanto’s decision comes after BCB’s abrupt and poorly communicated decision to remove Shanto as ODI captain.