BCB waiting for Shakib over captaincy decision

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) seems to be uncertain about finding the next long-time skipper of the national side even more than a month after the World Cup 2023.  

"Look, whether Shakib [Al Hasan] will continue [as captain] or not is a matter for later," Jalal Yunus, the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) chairman of cricket operations, said at the BCB headquarters today. 

Jalal, however, maintained that the board still considers Shakib as their regular skipper despite the cricketer clearly mentioning during an exclusive interview ahead of the World Cup that he would not continue in the role after the mega event.

Shakib, who is contesting in the upcoming general election, missed the two-Test home series against New Zealand in November and the ongoing white-ball tour of the Black Caps due to a finger injury. 

Najmul Hossain Shanto was appointed as the skipper for these two New Zealand series and the 25-year-old earned praises for leading the Tigers to a home Test win over the Kiwis, and their first-ever ODI and T20I wins over Black Caps in New Zealand during his tenure as the interim skipper. 

With Shanto impressing through his leadership in his short stint as the captain, questions have been raised about whether the 25-year-old, who had already expressed his willingness to captain Bangladesh in the long haul, should be named as the next regular skipper of the Tigers. 

But BCB, apparently, will wait till meeting with Shakib before deciding in this regard.   

"The final decision as to whether Shakib will continue or Shanto will take over will be taken by the board. But obviously, we will discuss it with him [Shakib] and will try to know his stance regarding this matter. And only after that, we will be able to know who is going to captain the side in the long term," Jalal said.