Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto hopes that his side would start the upcoming ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle on the right foot as they prepare to take on hosts Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series, scheduled to get underway on Tuesday in Galle.

Statistically, Shanto’s best performances have come at number three. 

The Bangladesh cricket team has long epitomised an on-again, off-again pattern -- considering their enduring struggle with inconsistency across all formats.

Is BCB building a team for the future, or simply reacting to the present?

Bangladesh’s cricketing narrative has rarely followed a smooth arc. It has often flowed between flashes of brilliance and extended stretches of inconsistency.

Bangladesh Test skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto is set to lead the side for at least a year and has emphasised the importance of knowing the duration of his tenure in order to prepare with a long-term objective, part of which will be to do better in the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

As it seems, the dilemma for Bangladesh remains: is Shanto worth the tactical compromise?

This episode of The Daily Star’s podcast Pitch Perfect takes a deep dive into the unfolding crisis and tries to shed light on the root causes of the dysfunction and explore what it would take to bring Bangladesh cricket back from the brink.

Reporters present during the Bangladesh squad announcement in Mirpur yesterday, ahead of the upcoming T20I series against the UAE and Pakistan, may have felt a strong sense of deja vu.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is waiting on the injury assessment of Liton Das as the wicketkeeper-batter is the frontrunner to captain the Tigers in their upcoming T20I series against the UAE and Pakistan.

Bangladesh are slated to play 16 T20Is against the UAE, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India ahead of the 2025 Asia Cup. An additional six matches against the West Indies and Ireland will follow. With a packed T20 calendar and Shanto’s declining performances in the format, his inclusion in the squad becomes increasingly difficult to justify.

He is five Tests away from becoming the first Bangladeshi cricketer to reach the 100-Test milestone — a landmark achievement. But milestones alone cannot justify selection if current form continues to deteriorate. 

Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani stood tall and won the battle against the much-hyped pace unit of Bangladesh in the first Test in Sylhet.

As a set batter, Shanto’s role was vital to give Bangladesh a substantial lead following their second innings.

Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani remains confident that his side are ahead of Bangladesh despite the Tigers leading by 112 runs after a rain-affected Day 3 of the opening Test at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said Zimbabwe will realise how lethal Nahid Rana can be when they face him in the first Test at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium beginning on Sunday.

Bangladesh cricketers joined a camp in Sylhet today ahead of their two-Test home series against Zimbabwe, starting with the first game at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on April 20. The Tigers’ jovial mood on the first day of their camp was reflected through a post from pacer Hasan Mahmud on his official Facebook page. The post that included a picture of seven of the 10 players who joined the camp so far was captioned, ‘Ignore Nahid Rana’. Hasan was apparently poking fun at Nahid, who was the odd one out in the picture as the right-arm quick was the only one to be looking away from the camera.

The Abahani-Mohammedan game in the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) has lost quite a bit of its lustre with hardly any fans turning up on the ground for the clash in the recent past.

Bangladesh and Abahani captain and Najmul Hossain Shanto’s poor form in red-ball and T20Is had seemingly carried over to the 50-over format as the batter was struggling to score runs in the ongoing Dhaka Premier League (DPL). But the batter seemingly turned a corner yesterday against Legends of Rupganj when he hit his first century in almost a year.

Bangladesh players Najmul Hossain Shanto and Taskin Ahmed experienced vastly contrasting days on Tuesday in the Dhaka Premier League.