Shakib appointed as Test captain, Liton deputy

Star allrounder Shakib Al Hasan has been appointed as the Test captain of the Bangladesh cricket team. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon made the announcement today, while confirming Liton Das as vice-captain for the longer version format.

The announcement came two days after Mominul Haque decided to quit the Test captaincy following a lean batting streak that extended to seven straight single digit figures.

He could just reach double digit mark thrice in the last 15 innings, which gave the critics an opportunity to raise their voice high against him.

"A total of three players were in contention to be the captain of Test side," Papon said after the board's executive committee's meeting held today at BCB's headquarters at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.

"At first, we decided to announce a vice-captain alongside Test captain. So after an elaborate discussion, we have decided to appoint Shakib as the captain for this format. Liton Das will act as his deputy."

Shakib will start leading the side for the third time from the upcoming West Indies series. Coincidentally in the last two times, he also began his captaincy career against West Indies.

Shakib firstly was appointed as the captain during Bangladesh's tour in West Indies in 2009 after Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was injured on the first day of the first Test. That remains Mashrafe's last Test.

Under Shakib's captaincy, Bangladesh won that series to make a history as that was the Tigers' first series victory on foreign soil.

Following a disastrous Zimbabwe tour in 2011, Shakib was stripped off the captaincy but back to being the captain again in 2018 when Mushfiqur Rahim stepped down.

At this phase, Shakib led the side till 2019 before being banned by ICC for two years for his failure to report the corrupt approaches from the bookies. In those two terms, Shakib led the side in 14 matches and won just three while lost 11.