Shanto’s resignation leaves BCB’s blunder bare

The fate of the Colombo Test and Najmul Hossain Shanto's captaincy was decided yesterday and the outcome in both cases was ill-fated but not unexpected.

After a woeful batting performance in the first innings, followed by toothless bowling, the writing was already on the wall for Bangladesh after the third day. And on the fourth day, Sri Lanka claimed the final four wickets and wrapped up the Bangladesh tail in less than six overs to claim an innings and 78-run win and take the two-Test series 1-0.

In the post-match press conference that followed, Shanto ended weeks-long speculation and stepped down from Test captaincy.

Shanto insisted that he made the decision only for the betterment of the team, and without directly spelling it out, implied that him losing the ODI captaincy to Mehidy Hasan Miraz earlier this month had nothing to do with it.

"I want to clearly send a message to everyone that my decision... it is nothing personal. It is totally for the betterment of the team. I think this will only benefit the team," Shanto told reporters yesterday.

"Personally, I feel that having three different captains [in three formats] can be a bit difficult for the team. Hence, for the team's betterment, I am stepping aside," Shanto added.

On June 12, just hours after Shanto had sat for a pre-tour press conference for the Sri Lanka tour, he got to know that he would no longer lead the one-day side and his long-time teammate Miraz would replace him.

The decision of appointing a new ODI skipper was made during a board of directors' meeting held over Zoom right after Shanto's press conference.

In the same meeting, BCB's cricket operations chairman Nazmul Abedeen Fahim was given the responsibility to discuss the captaincy matter with both Shanto and Miraz. But the way the message came from him, it didn't go down well with Shanto as he immediately made up his mind to quit captaincy and the matter was even reported in the media.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam Bulbul sent Fahim to Colombo on Thursday night to discuss the matter with Shanto but Fahim could not dissuade the 26-year-old.

"There was a discussion going on. I didn't expect such thing to happen today [yesterday]. But I respect the decision he [Shanto] announced today," Fahim said in his reaction to Shanto's announcement to the travelling Bangladeshi journalists in Colombo.

This entire episode is another example of BCB's poor communication and mishandling of players.

Over the years, such miscommunications in handling players have put the BCB in difficult situations several times. Ironically, both Fahim and Bulbul have criticised the board in the past for such mishaps and always took the players' side.

As they are now at the helm of BCB, expectations were that they would not repeat the same mistakes of their predecessors. Unfortunately, they have ended up taking the same route, and have not shown players the respect they deserve.

According to the Future Tour Programme (FTP), Bangladesh's next Test series will be in November against Ireland, so, the BCB don't have to appoint a new Test skipper straightway.

But the entire ordeal will go down as another failure in communication of the cricket board while the way Shanto, who led Bangladesh to four victories in 14 Tests, stepped down from captaincy will be remembered as a silent protest against disrespect.