Bangladesh are set to embark on a month-long tour in the West Indies this month to test their skills in all three formats against the home side, once an undisputed powerhouse of the game.

Bangladesh are set to embark on a month-long tour in the West Indies this month to test their skills in all three formats against the home side, once an undisputed powerhouse of the game.

Usually, when a new Test captain is appointed, the first focus is on the direction he wants to take the team. But Bangladesh’s newly instated captain is yet to speak about his plans for the team or the brand of cricket he wants to see it play.

Bangladesh batting coach Jamie Siddons thought that Shakib Al Hasan’s reappointment as the Test captain will be a positive move for the Bangladesh side as the cricketers usually tend to follow Shakib more than they probably did Mominul Haque.

Experienced Bangladesh national cricketer Imrul Kayes is far from being an unfamiliar figure when it comes to captaincy as the left-hander had successfully managed to twice lead Comilla Victorians to glory in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the country’s franchise-based T20 cricket competition, since he was appointed captain in 2019. 

Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz spoke highly of Shakib Al Hasan’s reappointment as Test captain.

Bangladesh star cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is back to being the captain of the Bangladesh Test side while the in-form wicketkeeper-batter Liton Das is set to be the vice-captain, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan made the announcement during a press conference following a board meeting today.  

Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud said that Shakib Al Hasan was keener on playing Tests now that other formats.

In a normal cricket culture, this would not be an issue. Especially when a Test captain wants to resign, it is the captain who asks for the decision to be either made public or makes the announcement himself, preferably in a press conference in an official setting.

Spin coach Rangana Herath is conducting a four-day spin camp with 32 spinners in order to strengthen the spin-bowling pipeline. It became apparent that there was a lack of spinners around the periphery of the national team when Bangladesh played the recent Dhaka Test against Sri Lanka with four front-line bowlers despite Shakib Al Hasan being there. Mosaddek Hossain came in as a batter who can bowl and the burden of majority of the overs fell on Taijul Islam and Shakib.

On the back of a 1-0 defeat in the recently-concluded Test series against Sri Lanka and with a packed schedule ahead of Bangladesh, some of the members of the national team have taken a break ahead of their upcoming West Indies tour next month.

There was not any significant difference between hosts Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in terms of international experience as the two subcontinental rivals locked horns in a two-match Test series within the past two weeks.

Premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has taken himself to a new height as he has bagged a five-wicket haul and also scored a fifty in a Test on 10 occasions, the second most after legendary all-rounder Ian Botham of England. 

Premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan said that Bangladesh are one of the fittest teams in Tests. 

Bangladesh bowlers have something to smile about after a tiresome day in the field on day four of the second Test of the two-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.

Half-centuries on Day 3 from former skipper Angelo Mathews and all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva took Sri Lanka to a position of strength in the second and deciding Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur on Wednesday.

Both Shakib and Mushfiqur are 35 and Tamim is 33. Siddons said that his aim was to get the seniors to end their careers on a high.

“I think Sri Lanka are still behind. If we can pick up a few early wickets in the first hour of the [third] day, then we will have the upper hand. The first innings is crucial. If they get close to our total or go past it, then we will be on the back foot. So it will be important to take a first-innings lead,” Liton opined.

Sri Lanka lost two wickets in the final session of Day 2 of their second Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur today but the visitors still remain in a strong position.

Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan's availability before a series becomes a hot topic of discussion before every series. There are whisperings that Shakib could opt out of one of the formats in the upcoming series against West Indies.