Shakib Al Hasan to take over as Bangladesh Test captain once again

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan said on Thursday that all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will take over the duty of the national side's captain again.

He will take over from Mominul Haque, who resigned as captain on May 31. He was leading the side since October 2019. Batter Litton Das has been named as Shakib's deputy, the vice-captain of the team.

"What I have discussed - or, what we have discussed - and learnt is that he [Shakib] is available to play, After the series against West Indies, we have a series against Zimbabwe. Shakib is uncertain for that series, and it is unclear how long Shakib will remain the captain for....," said the BCB president.

"I had three names. The people responsible for (selecting the captain) had their discussions and gave me three names - one of them would be the captain and one of the others would be the vice-captain. If Shakib had refused the captaincy, we would have turned to the other two. We wanted to appoint both the new captain and the vice-captain. And after the preliminary discussions, we decided to have Shakib Al Hasan as the captain and Litton Das as the vice-captain," he added.

During Haque's tenure, the results did not go in Bangladesh's favour. The team won only three tests, lost 12 and drew two. His own batting form suffered as a captain. In six Tests so far in 2022, he has scored 162 runs at an average of 16.20.

"When you play well, even if the team does not win, you are still in a position to motivate them. I felt that captaining a side is tough when I am not scoring and team is not winning," said Haque at time of announcing his resignation.

Shakib, 35, has been in numerous stints as Bangladesh's Test captain, first leading the side in a game against West Indies in 2009. He led the side for six more matches in the first half of 2010, and again in August 2011 against Zimbabwe, before he fell out of favour with the then BCB chief Mustafa Kamal.

In December 2017, Shakib took over Test captaincy again and replaced Mushfiqur Rahim. He carried on with the role for almost two years before being banned for a year in 2019 for failing to report a bookie's approach.

Shakib's future in Test cricket has been a hot topic of discussion for a while. In February, Shakib had reportedly asked the BCB for some time off from the longest format of the game, but was included in squad for the tour of South Africa.

Shakib, suggested that he was "jaded", and requested the board for a break from international cricket, which was eventually granted to him. Later, Nazmul Hassan publicly questioned Shakib's commitment to his country and, after another round of meetings between the allrounder and Hassan, Shakib was added to the squad for South Africa. But he missed out on the Test series due to illness in his family.

In the home series against Sri Lanka, Hasan finished as the highest wicket-taker for his side. Lanka had won the series 1-0.

Hassan also confirmed that former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer and former Australia batter Stuart Law will join the Under-19 coaching team.

"Our Under-19 [men's] coaching staff will have Stuart Law and Wasim Jaffer. Stuart Law will be the head coach and Wasim Jaffer will be BCB's batting consultant. We can use them in various capacities," he said.