Mushfiqur Rahim has been eleminated as a captain and Shakib Al Hasan was announced as the new Test captain for the forthcoming Sri Lanka tour to Bangladesh in January 2018. Mahmudullah Riyad has been named as vice-captain. BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon made the announcement after the board meeting at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday (Dec 10).
The Bangladesh Cricket Board currently also interviewing candidates for the Tigers' head coach position, with former coach Richard Pybus leading the chase with former West Indian cricketer Phil Simmons also very closed to his heel.
However, the board president reportedly said on Saturday that the series against Sri Lanka may go ahead without a head coach, or an interim coach may be appointed from among local names, with Khaled Mahmud almost certain to get the nod as an interim coach.
Mushfiqur has led Bangladesh in 34 Test matches since Oct, 2011. Tigers won seven Tests, lost 18 and drawn nine. Mushfiqur started out as captain in all three formats, but at the end of a horrific 2014 when Bangladesh lost all their matches until Mushfiqur was replaced as T20I and ODI captain by Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.
Mushfiqur criticism grew for his defensive mindset and in recent tour of South Africa everything went wrong for the diminutive captain both on and off field. When he won the toss and fielded first in the Tests, both of which were lost by handsome margins.
The opinion in the board Mashrafe's retirement from T20Is meant that for half a year Bangladesh had three captains in three different formats, with Shakib being named Mashrafe's replacement.
Shakib's appointment as Test captain makes him skipper of two out of the three formats.
