During his time as Bangladesh’s all-around captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto hopes to win an ODI tournament and make general improvements to the country’s Test cricket programme. Beginning on March 4, Najmul—who filled in as Shakib Al Hasan’s temporary captain—will assume full-time duties for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka.
At his first official press conference in Sylhet on Sunday, March 3, the left-handed batter expressed his gratitude to the Bangladesh Cricket Board for allowing him to captain the team in all three formats ahead of the series. He added that having the captaincy duties divided across formats would make it easier for him to prepare as a leader.
“I understand that being the format captain is difficult, but planning will make it simpler. Even if we all live and play together, I still need to know everything about each cricket player, but since I am in charge of three formats, planning will be simpler. “I’m hoping for positive things to happen,” Najmul said to reporters at SICS.
“Although we are playing better than we did previously, I don’t think we have made much progress in Test cricket. My personal goal is for us to win matches at home, and I think everyone should come to appreciate the significance of Test cricket. We should be able to compete when we travel elsewhere.
“In ODIs we are doing good but as a team we are yet to win a big tournament so want to move forward with the plan on how we can play well in a big tournament and bring a trophy for the country,” he explained.
With just 175 runs from 12 games at an average of 14.58 and a strike-rate of 93.58, Najmul had a forgettable BPL season. However, he isn’t concerned about his form or feels that he needs to improve now that he is the captain of the national squad.
“I don’t think I am playing badly… because of my throat though there was some irritation it is just that I had a bad tournament and I am working on that and hopefully it will be better in the coming days,” he stated.
“It is not a given that I have to score more points just because I am the captain; I have to score even if I am not the captain. I don’t see it as captain, so I have to do extra in the batting, and when I am batting, I will be completing my role. Instead, I feel like a hitter first, and my job is to score runs while I am batting. Later, I will do my duty both inside and outside the ground,” he stated.
Going into the T20 World Cup right out of the BPL will hold the T20 team in good stead, Najmul continued. The T20 series versus Sri Lanka will serve as the beginning of their preparation. “I think it is important that before the World Cup we will play eight to 11 matches and if we can plan properly and organise ourselves from here in that case it will be easier to play the World Cup,” he stated.
“I believe it is crucial to play as a team. As we saw in the previous year, everyone contributed to every [T20] match. We should keep doing this, and it will be vital if we can strengthen our mutual trust in the days to come. It is significant that we are starting the series following the BPL, and that our playing in this format makes planning simpler for us,” he stated.
Najmul expressed confidence in his team’s performance and stated that the contentious events, like as the Naagin dance or the timed-out dismissal controversy, that occasionally occurred during games between these two teams were not being discussed. “We have hundred percent faith that we can win the series,” Najmul stated. “We are concentrating on our plan and will do what we need to do in order to hopefully have a nice series against Sri Lanka. We are not worrying about external factors like what has happened in the past.
“Every international series carries pressure, and both the opposition and we feel it. This will continue, and everyone is old enough to deal with it. We are playing at home, so we will have an edge, and I hope we can play some excellent cricket. They have a really talented team, especially with their all-rounders,” he said.
