Najmul Hossain Shanto appointed Bangladesh captain for all formats

Bangladesh Cricket Board on Monday appointed Najmul Hossain Shanto as the captain across all three formats for the next one year.

BCB president Nazmul Hasan made the announcement after the board directors meeting at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. He informed the media that the decision to go Najmul was due to the lack of clarity surrounding Shakib al Hasan's availability due to his eye problem.

"We have decided to appoint Najmul Hossain Shanto across all formats. He will serve the national team as skipper this year," Nazmul told reporters following the meeting.

"I have talked to Shakib. His eye issue is still causing problems. There is some uncertainty regarding his participation in Sri Lanka. The World Cup is very near. So we didn't want to take any chance," he said.

"We are not sure about Shakib's availability and that is why we picked Shanto (Najmul) for all three formats," he added.

Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha had earlier said that he felt it was time to give long-term captaincy to Najmul after being impressed by him in the recent past when he had led the side in absence of Shakib. The star all-rounder had also recently insisted that he is not sure about his future as captain.

Wholesale changes to the selection panel

Meanwhile, the BCB also brought changes to the national selection panel by appointing former national captain Gazi Ashraf Hossain, who worked in different capacities, as the chief selector for the next two years.

Cricbuzz had earlier reported that Minhajul Abedin and Habibul Bashar are unlikely to retain their post in the selection panel. Nazmul said that only Abdur Razzak was retained from the previous selection panel. Joining Hossain and Razzak in the selectors' panel will be former cricketer Hannan Sarkar.

"After all the discussion, we have selected Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu as the chief selector...Usually the contract is for two years. Khan Abdur Razzak and Hannan Sarkar will be the other two selectors," said Nazmul adding that Minhajul and Bashar will continue work with the Board in different capacities.

Tamim opts out of central contract

Senior batter Tamim Iqbal isn't part of the central contracts released by the BCB after he had requested for the same. The veteran, who retired from T20Is in 2022, had announced his retirement from international cricket last year before reversing the decision within a week. Ebadot Hossain is the other notable name to be missing from the senior contracts. Meanwhile, Nazmul said that they will sit with Tamim Iqbal in the coming days to resolve the issue surrounding his international career.

Cricbuzz earlier reported that Taskin Ahmed had asked BCB not to consider him for Tests. As a response to the request, the fast bowler hasn't been included in the national contract for longer-version cricket. Young stars Towrid Hridoy and Tanzim Sakib have got contracts in the shorter formats while Mosaddek Hossain loses his spot.

BCB said that they have already received the recommendations from the special committee formed by the board to assess the disappointing performance in the World Cup.