![Shanto keen to snap Tigers’ trophy draught in int’l cricket Shanto keen to snap Tigers’ trophy draught in int’l cricket](https://www.dailymessenger.net/media/imgAll/2024February/en/Untitled-5-2403031332.jpg)
Najmul Hossain Shanto. Photo : Collected
Najmul Hossain Shanto, as a full-time captain, sets his goal to lead Bangladesh to claim a big trophy, something which is still missing.
The Bangladesh Men's team so far won an International trophy when they became champions in a tri-nation tournament in Ireland ahead of the 2019 World Cup. Apart from this, they came close to winning the Asia Cup trophy several times but just couldn't seal the deal.
However, Shanto believes a well-devised plan could help them to end their trophy drought.
"We have been doing well in ODI cricket but as a team, we haven't won any big trophy as of now. We would have to plan well to how we can play well in the big tournament and win a trophy," Shanto said in his first interaction with media as the full-time captain of Bangladesh at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (3 March).
He said that Bangladesh though showing progress, would have to work hard still to be a good team in Test format.
"I don't think we have improved much in Test format but we started doing well in fact. Now what I want is to win matches at home and at the same time we want to show fighting spirit in away Tests. I want the players to understand the importance of Test cricket," he added.
Often being touted as the vulnerable side, Bangladesh has shown considerable progress in T20 cricket in the last two years. The Tigers have been unbeaten in the last five bilateral T20 series they won against teams like UAE, England, Ireland and Afghanistan, they drew a T20 series on New Zealand soil. Shanto wants to keep that consistency to make them a giant in this format.
"We have improved much in the T20 format. But we want to take us in a position so that we can win in any condition in the world," he said.
"It is important to do well in all three formats consistently. I hope all players will keep their contribution and help the team to achieve the success," he added.
Shanto however didn't feel that the burden of captaincy will affect his performance as he believes he needs to score, whatever he is.
"You have to score, no matter whether you are captain or not. I feel at first I am the batter of the team so I must score runs as much as I can. Then I am captain and so I need to look after all the things."
Shanto himself hasn't been in runs during the just concluded Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) but he said he fixed some important things that he believes would help him to get back amongst runs in the Sri Lanka series.
"Just I had a bad phase during BPL. I worked on some issues, hopefully, it will work and I will get back to runs in the coming series," he concluded.
Messenger/Sumon