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Hannan Sarkar has replaced another selector, Habibul Bashar, while Abdur Razzak has retained his place in the selection panel
Published : 12 Feb 2024, 07:03 PM
Bangladesh Cricket Board has rung in a flurry of changes to its selection panel and national team leadership, replacing Chief Selector Minhazul Abedin with former captain Gazi Ashraf Hossain.
Najmul Hossain Shanto, who has been in the spotlight over his leadership skills for quite some time, has replaced experienced all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan as captain in all three formats, BCB President Nazmul Hassan announced on Monday evening.
Hannan Sarkar has taken the place of another selector, Habibul Bashar, while Abdur Razzak has retained his place in the selection panel.
Gazi Ashraf, who captained the team in its first international match, had earlier worked as a director and head of cricket operations at the BCB.
The former all-rounder led the team in seven ODIs between 1986 and 1990. He also left a mark of his success in domestic cricket.
The selection panel led by Minhazul had been working in special capacity after its term ended on Dec 31. They will continue until the new panel takes over on Mar 1.
Minhazul and Habibul’s work is ending through the selection of players for the home series against Sri Lanka. The squad for the series in March is expected to be announced within three days.
Minhazul and Habibul were included in the selection panel in 2011 and their term was extended in 2013.
Habibul was made the selector of the women’s team in 2015.
When Faruque Ahmed resigned as chief selector in 2016, Minhazul was named his successor. Habibul was also brought back to the panel at that time.
BCB chief Nazmul said they appreciated Minhazul and Habibul’s work as selectors in the meeting where the changes were decided. “We’ve decided to keep them for suitable work in the BCB.”
Shanto had worked as vice-captain in the ODI World Cup last year. He also captained the team when Shakib was out with injury for two matches.
Nazmul said they decided to keep Shanto as captain at least for this year.
According to him, Shakib’s eye problem was the main factor behind the decision to pick a new captain.
Under top-order batsman Shanto’s captaincy, Bangladesh played a Test at home, and ODIs and Twenty20s abroad.
In the 11 matches under his captaincy, Bangladesh won one match in each of three formats.
When Shanto was acting as skipper in the two-series New Zealand tour, Mehidy Hasan Miraz was his deputy.
It now seems to be the end of Shakib's tenure as captain, due to his eye condition and foray into politics. He was elected as a member of parliament in the elections held in January.
Shakib led Bangladesh to win in 47 out of 120 matches.
BCB boss Nazmul, however, said it will take more time to select a vice-captain because not all the players will play in all three formats.
