Star allrounder Shakib Al Hasan has been re-appointed as the Test captain of the Bangladesh cricket team. He will now take over the charge from Mominul Haque who recently said he is not willing to continue in the role after the recent failure in the series against Sri Lanka at home.  While Shakib is appointed as the new captain, Liton Das, the wicketkeeper-bater will play the role of his deputy. Liton has previously led Bangladesh in T20I as an interim captain in New Zealand.  This is the second time when Shakib is set to lead the Tigers in Tests. In his first tenure, he led Bangladesh in 14 Tests and won three matches with 11 defeats.  Also read: Mominul reluctant to continue as Test captain; informs BCB The allrounder also led Bangladesh in 71 limited-over matches.  Shakib was removed from the captaincy in 2019 when he was banned for two years, with one year suspension, due to failing to report corrupt approaches made to him. After that, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had appointed Mominul as the captain of Test team.  Also read:Cricketer Mominul on verge of losing captaincy

After losing the second Test against South Africa in Gqeberha, Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque attributed the defeat to lack of team effort. Bangladesh lost the second Test by a big margin of 332 runs, after losing the first match by 220 runs. They are set to return without a memorable result in the Test series.  Right before the Test series, Bangladesh beat South Africa in the ODI series - a landmark achievement away from home. That win charged up the Tigers ahead of the Tests, but they failed to do well in the longer format, despite coming up against a below-strength team. Also read: Bangladesh suffer another thumping defeat against South Africa In the four innings of two Tests, Bangladesh did well only in one when Mahmudul Hasan Joy hit his maiden Test ton. But in the other three innings, Bangladesh capitulated to the hosts’ spin attack.  “We failed to play as a team,” Mominul said in the post-match press conference. “I only have an explanation— we failed to bat well.” Mominul failed to reach double-digits in any of the four innings, totalling just 13 runs for the series. Mushfiqur Rahim, another mainstay of the Bangladesh team, hit a fifty in an innings but failed to reach double-digits in the other three innings. Mushfiqur's rash shot selections leading to dismissals at key moments also came in for criticism. Bangladesh paid a heavy price for their batting failures.  “You can have some bad days. It does not mean that you are not capable anymore,” Mominul said explaining his own batting failure. “I know how to score runs. I had bad days before and I scored big runs after that.” Mominul backed Mushfiqur against the criticism he has faced. “Reverse sweep is a shot of cricket, isn't it?”  Mominul said. “Mushfiqur scored ample runs playing this shot. If he has this shot in his plan, he can play it anytime. I support him playing this shot.” Bangladesh only had five partnerships in two Tests exceeding 50 runs. The biggest stand was of 82 runs between Liton Das and Mahmudul in the first innings of the first Test.  Also read: SA vs BAN 2022: Bangladesh's trip to South Africa ends with a crushing defeat There was no stand of more than 50 runs in the second innings of either Test. Of course there wouldn't be given that they were bowled out for 53 and 80 in those two innings, woefully bowled out in under 20 and 24 overs respectively when they needed to bat long in the 4th innings to get any sort of result. “We are not the number one team in Test,” Mominul said when he was asked whether Bangladesh lack a Test mentality. “We have to play well in every session of a Test. We have to improve more. We are still at the same place where we were ahead of this series.” Bangladeshi batters play spinners on a regular basis at the domestic circuit. But in this series, they were rudderless against the left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj who scalped two seven-fors.  Mominul said they only have one or two batters who can do well against spin, and this is the reason behind their poor show against Maharaj.  Bangladesh’s next assignment is to play a two-match Test series against Sri Lanka at home. The Sri Lankan Test team is scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on May 8.

Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque hit his maiden test ton away from home in the ongoing Test against Sri Lanka in Kandy on Thursday. At the lunch break of day two, Bangladesh were batting at 378 for two, with Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul were unbeaten for 155 and 107 respectively. Also Read: Kandy Test: Tamim's quick fifty drives Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka  Mominul needed to face 224 to record his first century in an overseas Test. Right after his ton, Najmul, who was unbeaten for 126 at the end of day one, stretched his first Test ton to 150.  Najmul was dropped at 28 by the wicketkeeper of the hosts on day one.  Bangladesh ended day one at 302 for two. They added 76 runs in the first session of day two and both the overnight batsmen are still impregnable by the hosts’ bowlers.  The third-wicket partnership between Najmul and Mominul reached 226 runs so far, which is now the fourth highest stand by a Bangladeshi pair in away Tests. Also Read: BD v SL: Najmul hits maiden Test ton as Tigers take control  Mominul played 42 Tests before coming to this game and got stuck 10 centuries. But all of those centuries have been notched up on home soil. Before this game, his best in away Tests was 77, which is now surpassed by the left-handed batsman.  Earlier, on day one, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first. They lost the opener, Saif Hassan, in the second over of the match. But the visitors recovered from that initial damage well, as Tamim Iqbal and Najmul put up a 144-run partnership in the second wicket stand.  This series is part of the World Test Championship. Bangladesh played five matches of this event but failed to win any of them while Sri Lanka played 10 matches and won one with losing six and drawing the other three.  Bangladesh played a total of 12 matches in Sri Lanka and won one of them in 2017 which was Bangladesh’s last overseas Test win to the date.