BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said that Bangladesh are unlikely to have a new captain for the one-off Test against India next month. The question was asked after Mushfiqur Rahim, the incumbent captain of the format, was roundly criticised when Bangladesh let Pakistan off the hook in the two-match Test series earlier this month.
However, Hassan said that the BCB would try to manage Mushfiqur’s duties in the Test team, particularly because he suffered an injury while keeping wickets in the first Test and it affected his batting performance in the rest of the series. Hassan said that Mushfiqur may have to choose between keeping wickets or leading the side.
“I don’t think there needs to be any change prior to the India series,” Hassan told The Daily Star. “Let us see what happens. But we will definitely have to come to a solution by the end of this year. We feel that for a player to keep, bat and captain a side together is too stressful. For him to stand behind the wicket all day and then play a long innings … the whole scenario can become a little demanding.
“We would want to lessen the burden on him. It’s still not decided as to how we are going to do that. But the obvious move would be for him to compromise with either one duty: keeping or captaincy. We will discuss the issue with him before taking any steps.”
Hassan said that the captaincy and overall performance in the Dhaka Test was “poor”, but he could not spot a replacement for Mushfiqur.
“I personally felt that both the captaincy and the performance of our players in the last Test was poor,” Hassan said. “We are not happy. The mentality of the players wasn’t right. One can’t just hit the ball and survive two straight days.
“With regards to Test captaincy, if we can get a substitute, we will think about it. But at this point of time we don’t have any.”
The BCB president had appointed Tamim Iqbal as the Test vice-captain while Shakib Al Hasan is the ODI deputy. Mashrafe Mortaza who was made ODI captain in September, has not played Test matches since 2009 due to fitness issues.
Source: Cricinfo
