Shakib being captain doesn’t guarantee success: Mashrafee

Shakib Al Hasan was handed the captaincy after Mominul Haque stepped away, saying the pressure of captaincy is taking a toll on his batting form.

Relinquishing captaincy didn’t help Mominul regain form and he eventually lost his place in the playing XI. Bangladesh’s fate also didn’t improve with Shakib at the helm, as they got clean-swept in the two-Test series against West Indies.

Bangladesh failed to put up a decent fight in both Tests, losing both matches inside four days by seven and 10 wickets respectively. None of the batters scored a century, the team couldn’t cross the 250-run mark once and only three players managed to score half-centuries.

Expecting a dramatic turnaround in the first series of Shakib’s third tenure as captain is unrealistic but the team meekly surrendering in both Tests also doesn’t give a positive omen.

But former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza asked everyone to be more patient with captain Shakib.

“I believe that Shakib becoming the captain is a blessing for us. Because in Test cricket, the captaincy mantle should be with the most experienced and the biggest performer of the team. But, we can’t expect success overnight,” Mashrafe told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Mashrafe was quick to remind everyone about Bangladesh’s reality in Test cricket, “Firstly, we were never a good team in Tests. In between, we had won a few matches at home, we were in the middle of a process. Then suddenly the performance graph went down. We were never consistent in Tests.”

After the second Test, Shakib told reporters about there not being a Test culture in Bangladesh and spoke how they could turn things around in the next 1-1.5 years through a joint effort from all corners of the cricket fraternity.

Mashrafe echoed Shakib, “Shakib knows how to change the team. He was captain twice before. I feel that Shakib knows how to handle everything, how to change the team. Secondly, there is no substitute to planning. If we don’t plan ahead, we can’t go forward, definitely not in this format.”

Mashrafe, like Shakib, emphasised developing a winning habit in home Tests, “We have to win majority of the matches at home. When we play at home, the chances to drawing a Test is less. Because in turning wickets, there are fewer draws. We have to win matches through planning. I feel that Shakib is thinking aggressively, which is a positive thing.”