Shakib replaces Mushfiqur as Test captain

The Bangladesh Cricket Board held a general meeting today with big ramifications for Bangladesh cricket as a new captain was named following the meeting in Mirpur. Mushfiqur Rahim has been replaced by Shakib Al Hasan as the Test captain for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka in January 2018. Mahmudullah Riyad has been named Shakib's vice-captain, replacing previous vice-captain Tamim Iqbal.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan related these decisions immediately after the board meeting at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium this evening. 

This series of changes was set off by the resignation of head coach Chandika Hathurusingha during the tour of South Africa in September-October. The BCB are currently interviewing candidates for the head coach position, with former coach Richard Pybus being a frontrunner and former West Indian cricketer Phil Simmons also being in the mix. However, Hassan said on Saturday that the series against Sri Lanka may go ahead without a head coach, or an interim coach may be appointed from among local names, with current BCB director and former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud rumoured to be the frontrunner. 

Mushfiqur has led  Bangladesh in 34 Test matches dating back to 21 October 2011 in the first Test against the West Indies in Chittagong. Under his leadership Bangladesh have won seven Tests, lost 18 and drawn nine. Mushfiqur started out as captain in all three formats, but at the end of a horrific 2014 when Bangladesh lost all their matches under Murshfiqur, leading to him being replaced as T20I and ODI captain by Mashrafe Bin Mortaza at the end of the year. 

Mushfiqur courted criticism throughout his tenure for his defensive captaincy, but it reached a head on the recent tour of South Africa when he won the toss and fielded first in the Tests, both of which were lost by handsome margins. The opinion in the board seemed to have shifted decisively against him, however, when he publicly lashed out at coach Hathurusingha and management after a poor showing on the field on the first day of the second Test in Bloemfontein.  

Mashrafe's retirement from T20Is in early April meant that for half a year Bangladesh had three captains in three different formats, with Shakib being named Mashrafe's replacement. Shakib's appointment as Test captain today makes him skipper of two out of the three formats.