The Bangladesh crickert Board(BCB) appointed Mashrafi Bin Mortaza as captain for Uk tour and Shakib Al Hasan as his deputy. BCB made the announcements Monday ahead of the Tigers' departure early Wednesday morning for the three-week tour to the United Kingdom.
Bangladesh will play a couple of warm-up matches before a three match series against England, two match against Ireland in Belfast and one-day match against Scotland and the Netherlands.
BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said that the change at the top was made after seeing Shakib Al Hasan's form beginning to drop and fatigue rising after a bout of chickenpox ahead of the-two match Test serise in England last month.
We feel Shakib needs a break, both physically and mentally, and that's why Mashrafe was made the captain, said Jalal.
Another reason is that the board wants Shakib to perform at his best and as he’s been captaining for a long time, he needs to feel fresh,” added the BCB director.
It is a return to the top job for the Narail Express after he had a very short stint when appointed last year.
Mashrafe was handed the captaincy after Mohammad Ashraful’s dismal failures in last year’s World Twenty20s in England but the fast bowler injured his knee badly while bowling in his first Test as captain in West Indies and the rein was swiftly given to then deputy Shakib.
The left-handed all-rounder led from the front and won Bangladesh the Test and one-day series in West Indies as well as some sterling performances both home and abroad in the ensuing months.
But Shakib scored just 42 runs and took five wickets in the recently-concluded Asia Cup and has failed to score a half-century since his 96 against England at home in March.
It is an interesting move to say the least since Mashrafe himself hasn’t settled back to international cricket after a long injury layoff and with the World Cup eight months away, the cricket board has to make sure a permanent leader is in place.
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