Bangladesh met Zimbabwe in their maiden Twenty20 International match on November 28, 2006, at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna. Bangladesh's inaugural T20I match was captained by Shahriar Nafees, and it was the only cricket format in which Bangladesh won their first match. Bangladesh have played 109 T20I matches since then, winning 40 and losing 67 of them. Bangladesh have had seven T20I captains so far, with Mahmudullah Riyad leading the way with 12 victories. How Mahmudullah Riyad becomes Bangladesh's most successful T20I captain in the ongoing 5-match bilateral BAN vs. NZ 2021 series is discussed in this article. 

Bangladesh National Cricket Team's T20I Captaincy Record

Left-arm opener Shahriar Nafees led Bangladesh to victory in their maiden T20I match against Zimbabwe in 2006. Interestingly, he did not captain Bangladesh for the second time. Opener Liton Das has also captained Bangladesh for a single match.

Mahmudullah Riyad became the most successful T20I captain in history after winning the series opener against New Zealand on Wednesday (September 1). Mahmudullah Riyad has won 12 of his 24 matches as captain, giving him the highest winning percentage. 

Read: Bangladesh-New Zealand T20 series: PM greets Tigers for going 2-0 up

Surprisingly, 9 of his 12 victories have come in the last 10 matches, which is an incredible number. It indicates that Mahmudullah has improved as a skipper and he has performed very well in the recent T20I series.

Seven players have captained Bangladesh in the Twenty20 format. Mashrafe Mortaza has led Bangladesh the most times (28), followed by Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, and Mohammad Ashraful. 

Bangladesh have been winning consistently since Mushfiqur Rahim took over as captain of the national team in 2011. Bangladesh have won eight games and lost fourteen under his leadership. Mushfiqur Rahim is Bangladesh's third-best captain in terms of victories and without a doubt one of the finest captains in the country's history.

Also read: Tigers do enough to see off Latham's Black Caps in 2nd T20I

Mohammad Ashraful was the captain of Bangladesh's T20 team from 2007 to 2009. Bangladesh only won two games out of 11 when he was captain. 

Bangladesh won the fourth-most T20I matches (7) under Shakib Al Hasan's leadership. Shakib captained Bangladesh in 21 games, winning 33.33 percent of the time. When Shakib was in charge, though, Bangladesh lost 14 games. 

From 2014 to 2017, Mashrafe Mortaza captained Bangladesh in the most number of matches. The Bangladesh national cricket team improved tremendously under his leadership. Bangladesh won ten games when he was captain. Mashrafe also suffered the most losses (17) while captaining the Bangladesh national team. 

Read Afghanistan U-19 team's tour of Bangladesh on: BCB

Twenty20 International Captaincy Record for Bangladesh 

Player	Match	Won	Loss	%
Mashrafe Mortaza	28	10	17	37.03%
Mahmudullah Riyad	24	12	12	50%
Mushfiqur Rahim	23	08	14	36.36%
Shakib Al Hasan	21	07	14	33.33%
Mohammad Ashraful	11	02	09	18.18%
Liton Das	01	0	0	0.00
Shahriar Nafees	01	01	0	100%

Read ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021: Five Potential Replacements of Tamim Iqbal

BAN vs. NZ T20 Series: As It Stands 

Mahmudullah Riyad became Bangladesh cricket's most successful T20I skipper after winning the low-scoring opening match of the BAN vs. NZ 2021 series. He extended his lead by winning the second match on Friday, (September 3). 

Bangladesh will seal the series with two games left if they win the third match. Therefore, the third match is crucial for New Zealand to stay firm in the series. 

There was heavy criticism regarding the slow pitch that took place in the opening match. New Zealand only scored 60 runs, and Bangladesh had to play 15 overs to reach the target. Following the first match, BCB’s Operations Committee Akram Khan told the media that they will prepare a better wicket for the second match to ensure a run-fest. 

Read BAN vs. NZ 2021: Bangladesh Clinch Their First T20I Win Against New Zealand

Thankfully, the curator did a good job, putting up a better pitch for the second encounter. Batting first, Bangladesh made 141 runs in the second match and successfully defended the total. Bangladesh won the match by four runs in a closely contested encounter. We can anticipate New Zealand to play even better cricket on a more competitive surface in the third match.

Verdict

The team has improved under Mahmudullah Riyad's leadership after analyzing Bangladesh's T20I captains' performances. Mahmudullah has a genuine chance to improve his statistics as a skipper in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand. Bangladesh are presently leading the series 2-0, with three more matches to be played. Bangladesh's main goal would be to win the series and then try to sweep New Zealand.

Mahmudullah's captaincy record will significantly improve if Bangladesh win the remaining matches in the BAN vs. NZ 2021 series. Bangladesh's players will gain confidence as a result of the series win ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in October.

Read Shakib admits pitch even 'tougher' than Australia series