In his first stint as on-field captain in a Test match, Najmul Hossain Shanto was able to leave his mark on yesterday’s proceedings, with especially how he rotated the bowlers and changed the field to match his team’s ploys against New Zealand batters.

Joy is now batting on 42 and he is accompanied in the middle by Mominul Haque, who is unbeaten on three.

An act of publicly taking the blame and responsibility, an initiation or indication of setting in motion an overhaul, or a statement of how things are to be taken from here on -- none of the aforementioned measures or steps were taken by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) even as over a fortnight passed since Bangladesh closed their disastrous World Cup campaign.

"I think every player will miss him," said stand-in captain Shanto.

“Personally, I feel that I have the ability to lead the team in all formats,” Shanto said in the pre-match press conference in Sylhet today

Following ICC World Cup debacle, the spotlight shifts to Test cricket for Bangladesh as they kick off the third cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) with a two-match Test series against New Zealand, beginning November 28 in Sylhet.

Hasan Mahmud had a close shave with injury when batter Najmul Hossain Shanto hit one back at the bowler as Bangladesh began training today in Sylhet. Hasan, who could make his Test debut in the upcoming New Zealand series, was down holding his arm but recovered later to bowl at the nets again.

Najmul Hossain Shanto was assigned the captaincy for Bangladesh’s upcoming two-match Test series against New Zealand starting on November 28 at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

Najmul Hossain Shanto will lead Bangladesh team in the two-match Test series at home against New Zealand later this month as a number of leading players, including Liton Das will be missing, informed BCB's cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus.

In a World Cup where Bangladesh's performances were mostly predictably poor, their batting order remained unpredictable throughout the tournament.

The 25-year-old led the Tigers for the second time at the tournament as they bowed out with an eight-wicket defeat by already-qualified semi-finalists Australia in Pune on Saturday.

"The two run-outs were crucial," said Shanto, who captained Bangladesh after Shakib Al Hasan's finger injury forced him out of the game. 

“If Tanzid and Liton could've batted longer, could have been a different ballgame. Hopefully in the next game, our batters can take responsibility,” Shanto said.

According to Shanto, there was no negativity in the dressing room after the huge 137-run defeat against England.

Bangladesh vice-captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, who came to attend the pre-match press conference today, only disclosed that they have chalked out a plan for Santner.

“In this team Miraz is the biggest asset,” Mashrafe further wrote, adding that Bangladesh’s World Cup dream will depend on the pace unit.

From being brutally trolled on social media at the beginning of his career to becoming the mainstay of Bangladesh’s batting line-up in recent years, Najmul Hossain Shanto has come a long way as a cricketer. The 25-year-old, who is set to play his maiden ODI World Cup, will definitely play a crucial role for the Tigers in the mega event in India. The in-form batter opened up about his game, and expectations from the showpiece event along with a few other topics during an exclusive interview with The Daily Star’s Mazhar Uddin. The excerpts of the interview are given below: 

"Shakib [Al Hasan] is 100% fine and ready for the first match,” Shanto said during the toss for their second warm-up match against defending champions England at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati today.

Amid all the rumours surrounding the announcement of the World Cup squad, the focus on Bangladesh's performance in their third and series-deciding encounter against New Zealand took a back seat at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Zakir Hasan came out to bat as play started 20 minutes later than schedule due to rain in the third match of the ODI series against New Zealand in Mirpur on Tuesday.