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Shanto banks on Bangladesh’s away form, squad flexibility for fresh WTC campaign

Published

8 months ago

2025/06/12

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Najmul Hosain Shanto is excited for the new WTC cycle [BCB]

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is tight-lipped about his batting position even as curiosity is growing around their opening combination for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka. Shanto opened in the two-day practice match in Dhaka prior to their departure for the two-match Test series, fueling speculation that he could do the same in the Galle Test from June 17. Shanto said that they will reveal their combination at the match, which will also kick off the World Test Championship’s fourth cycle.

In the previous WTC cycle, however, Bangladesh’s openers struggled to put up runs. They have largely rotated between Shadam Islam, Zakir Hasan and Mahmudul Hasan Joy, but the trio averaged second-lowest among teams in the WTC’s 2023-25 cycle. Shadman recovered somewhat with a century against Zimbabwe in April. He also added a century stand with Anamul Haque, their first in two years in the opening partnership. Joy and Zakir have now been dropped from the Bangladesh side.

Shanto has opened in six innings for Bangladesh, falling for a duck in his last outing in the position against Ireland two years ago. He has just one half-century, while averaging 18.83 as an opener. Given his own drought of runs – Shanto has scored just two fifties in his last 20 innings – it is a big call for the captain to resurrect the top order.

“I am happy with the Test squad,” Shanto said. “I got the players that I wanted. Regarding the lack of opening options, you will get an idea what we are thinking once we get into the first Test. You will understand the combination. We also have four fast bowlers and four spinners, so we have tried to balance the bowling attack too. We can go with different combinations. I am prepared to bat in any position. We have other top-order batters so we have options.”

Shanto said that the lack of runs from the openers cost Bangladesh dearly in the 2023-25 WTC cycle, but Bangladesh’s middle order did not contribute regularly either. Mehidy Hasan Miraz was their top run-getter, but he mostly bats at No 7. Their bowling unit, though, offers variety. Taijul Islam and Mehidy are his main spin-bowling choices, although Naveem Hasan has been a capable understudy, while uncapped left-arm spinner Hasan Murad comes with a good first-class record.

“The first Test is in Galle where the ball spins,” Shanto said. “They can also have a good batting track there, so we are preparing ourselves accordingly. We saw that the ball spun a bit in their Tests against Australia (earlier this year). Murad is a performer in first-class cricket in the last few seasons. I think Murad is prepared to step up to the role if we need a second left-arm spinner in the XI. We will decide on it looking at the conditions. He is mentally ready for the opportunity.”

Bangladesh have also welcomed back fast bowler Edabot Hossain who hasn’t played international cricket for two years due to an ACL tear. He returned to domestic cricket in the 2024-25 season and looked in good form in this week’s two-day practice match too, bowling Mushfiqur Rahim among his wickets.

“I think we have missed Ebadot for a long time. I think he got injured at the peak of his form at the time,” Shanto said. “We fell into a hard time despite having other bowlers around. I am happy to see him coming back into the squad. It is an additional strength for the team. He bowled well in the practice match. He looks fit, so he has to stay fit to contribute to the team.”

Shanto also said Bangladesh want to improve from their seventh place finish in the 2023-25 cycle, in which they won four Tests out of 12. He said they will have the confidence of doing well overseas as they registered three of those four wins in Pakistan and the West Indies last year.

“I think if we can raise our winning percentage to 55 or 60%, I will be happy as a captain. We are a more confident unit after winning four Tests in the last WTC cycle. We need that extra confidence against Sri Lanka who are a strong team. If we can play up to our capability, we can start well in this cycle,” he said. “We didn’t do well against Zimbabwe. We should have won that series. We have to do very well in this new cycle. We will be playing against strong sides in the 12 Tests in the 2025-27 cycle. We have to go through a lot of challenges. I think if we work hard together, we can get a better result.”

Shanto also felt that being given the Test captaincy for another year will help him plan better. He was appointed captain of all three formats in May 2024 but quit the T20I captaincy in January this year. Shanto wanted to give more time to his batting which led him to the decision, but he was happy to lead in the other formats.

“I informed the BCB that I didn’t want to continue the captaincy in T20Is. I wanted to give my batting a bit more time. We have a lot of T20s, so it was becoming hard to give my batting some time,” he said. “A longer term is always helpful for the captain. I got it previously and now I got the captaincy for another year. Planning becomes easy if a captain is appointed with a World Cup or a WTC cycle in mind. I am happy with my conversation with the cricket board. They are also on the same page about giving a captain a longer rope.

Bangladesh will be off to Sri Lanka on Friday, four days before the start of the first Test. The second Test is in Colombo from June 25, followed by three ODIs and as many T20Is, with the tour concluding on July 16 in Colombo.

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England enter the unknown in maiden encounter with Nepal

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/8

Priyan

Sandeep Lamichhane could be Nepal's biggest threat [Cricinfo]

Ten years on from their improbable run to the World T20 final in Kolkata, England return to India with quiet expectation. While controversy swirls around their captain, Harry Brook, and what he did and did not get up to outside a nightclub on Halloween, the team that he oversees has found some stillness in the eye of the storm. With 10 wins in their last 11 completed T20Is, they are as ready as they can be for the challenge that lies ahead.

So too, for that matter, are their opening-night opponents. Eighteen months ago in St Vincent, Nepal came within a whisker of a stunning upset against the eventual World Cup finalists, South Africa. They return to the T20 World Cup stage with a battle-hardened unit, forewarned of the pressures but with proof of their worthiness, and with two successful seasons of the Nepal Premier League under their belts to rehearse those big-match moments.

Like England, they arrive on an impressive run of recent form, albeit six wins out of six against the likes of Kuwait, Japan and Qatar in September’s qualifying tournament isn’t exactly apples and pears. Nevertheless, they are here on merit, and very much on the rise, with a young, established captain in Rohit Paudel, and an attacking array of bowlers including the nippy Karan KC. A maiden international against England will be a proud moment in their development, but there’s no reason to believe they should be daunted.

England have endured enough Associate hiccups down the years to take nothing for granted. But their confidence for this campaign won’t simply be derived from their run of recent form. Their range of contributors has arguably been the most heartening aspect, with their spinners finding form and impact throughout the Sri Lanka series, including the back-up offerings of Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell, while their batting has shown depth, power and versatility ever since the summer, when – against South Africa at Old Trafford – they recorded the first 300-plus total in a Full Members’ T20I.

Brook would love to be able to parade England’s T20I form as proof of their progress since he took over as white-ball captain. Unfortunately, those issues of team culture will not go away in what he admits has been a ‘horrendous’ few weeks for him, which means this is perhaps not the ideal moment for his overdue return to India. Unusually for a modern-day superstar, Brook is a relative stranger in these parts. He missed England’s last tour on compassionate grounds, and is currently serving a two-year ban from the IPL for reneging on his deal with Delhi Capitals. His solitary season, for Sunrisers Hyderabad, consisted of 90 runs in ten innings … and a startling 55-ball hundred against KKR, after which he missed his chance to endear himself to the locals by hitting out instead at his critics. He’ll doubtless have similar urges in the coming weeks, if he gets half a chance. It promises to be eventful, one way or another.

Sandeep Lamichhane has endured his own off-field controversies, of a significantly more serious variety. In November 2023 he was convicted of rape and jailed for eight years, but his sentence was overturned on appeal the following May, just in time for his recall for Nepal’s 2024 T20 World Cup campaign (though he was unable to secure a visa for the US and so missed their opening two games). He was already their best-known player, thanks to a cunning repertoire of legbreaks and googlies that have earned him nearly 250 T20 career wickets at little more than a run a ball. For all England’s strengths, spin remains their glaring weakness, and he’s a seasoned campaigner who will know how to exploit it.

True to form, England named their XI on the eve of the match. Phil Salt is fit again after a back spasm in Pallekele, and will open once again alongside Jos Buttler. Tom Banton keeps his place at No.4, ahead of Ben Duckett, while left-arm seamer Luke Wood gets an early outing ahead of Jamie Overton.

England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (capt), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood.

Nepal warmed up for this contest with two emphatic wins over UAE and Canada, with Aasif Sheikh impressing with a hard-hitting fifty from the top of the order in the latter contest.

Nepal (probable): Aasif Sheikh (wk), Kushal Bhurtel, Rohit Paudel (capt), Dipendra Airee, Aarif Sheikh, Gulsan Jha, Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi/Nandan Yadav, Sher Malla

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Japan votes in snap election as PM Takaichi takes a gamble

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/8

Priyan

Despite her traditional views on gender and family, Takaichi has proven especially popular among young voters [BBC]

Millions in Japan are voting in a snap election called by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, whose coalition is predicted to clinch a decisive win.

Just months after she was elected by lawmakers, Takaichi decided to go to the polls to seek the public’s mandate.

Polls show her Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) coalition with the populist Japanese Innovation Party could bag up to 300 of the 465 seats in the Lower House, marking a turnaround for the LDP which lost control of both chambers of Japan’s parliament last year.

The conservative leader has won over some voters by offering tax cuts and subsidies, but critics say these will deal a heavy blow to Japan’s sluggish economy.

Nearly 4.6 million people had cast early ballots as of a week ago, down 2.5% from the previous election in 2024, with the decline attributed to heavy snow in the northern and western regions.

Observers say Takaichi’s personal popularity may help boost the LDP’s showing in this election.

An admirer of former UK leader Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi has long pursued the ambition of becoming Japan’s “Iron Lady”. A known ally of Japan’s late former PM Shinzo Abe, she advocates similar positions including strong defence and nationalist policies.

Despite her traditional views on gender and family, Takaichi has proven especially popular among young voters between the ages of 18 and 30, polls show. Approval ratings for her government have mostly hovered above 70% since she first took office in October.

She has garnered a strong following on social media, with 2.6m followers on X. The LDP’s campaign video which she fronted was streamed over 100 million times in less than 10 days.

The 64-year-old has also become an unlikely fashion icon as “sanakatsu” – which roughly translates to “Sanae-mania” – has spread. The black leather tote bag she is often seen carrying has sold out and the pink pen she used at her first press conference has gone viral.

Sociologist Yuiko Fujita from Tokyo University sets this enthusiasm against the backdrop of how Japanese politics has traditionally been dominated by older men.

“The fact that the prime minister is now a woman, someone with a different background from what people are accustomed to, creates a feeling that something is shifting,” she told Nikkei Asia.

However, some are not convinced her popularity will translate into votes.

“This is not a presidential election but a parliamentary election, in which the LDP’s candidates are mostly men tainted by past scandals,” political science professor Koichi Nakano, from Sophia University, told the BBC.

Since 2023, the LDP had been mired in a fundraising scandal, which led to the resignation of four cabinet ministers and a corruption investigation.

The snap election is a gamble for Takaichi as her party now faces a more unified opposition. The LDP’s former longtime coalition partner Komeito has joined forces with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan to form the largest opposition bloc in the Lower House.

Another major hurdle the LDP faces is how to convince voters that its spending-heavy measures will not exacerbate Japan’s financial fragility.

The government’s policy package may offer households short-term relief, but “fails to address the underlying problems of weak productivity and stagnant real wages”, Masahiko Takeda, a senior fellow focusing on Asia at the Australian National University, wrote in an article this week.

Moreover, Takaichi has dug herself into “a deep hole in foreign and security policy by antagonising China”, said Nakano.

Takaichi angered Beijing, Tokyo’s largest trading partner, late last year with her suggestion that Japan could respond with its own self-defence force if China attacked Taiwan.

The rift has plunged the historically tense relationship to its lowest point in more than a decade.

Meanwhile she has pursued closer ties with US President Donald Trump as Tokyo seeks more stability in its relationship with Washington, its closest ally.

On Friday, Trump endorsed Takaichi in a rare move for a US leader.

[BBC]

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Injury-hit New Zealand eye revenge as Afghanistan look to run it back

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/8

Priyan

Rashid Khan is Afghanistan's talisman [Cricinfo]

Afghanistan vs New Zealand in the early stages of a T20 World Cup. Sounds familiar? The memories of their clash in 2024 will be very pleasant or downright horrific depending on who you support. It proved a pivotal result with the teams going in vastly opposite directions after Afghanistan’s stunning 84-run hammering in Guyana.

It kick-started Afghanistan’s fairytale semi-final run, fuelling an outpouring of revelry in the streets back home. For New Zealand, it was effectively the beginning of the end as they flamed out in a rare early exit at a global tournament.

The teams have not played in any format since, creating even more anticipation for a rematch with big stakes. Group D is considered the ‘group of death’ with South Africa also in its ranks, amplifying the importance of this match for teams considered dark horses in the tournament.

New Zealand will be keen to banish the demons, but enter with plenty of question marks following a 4-1 series pummelling to India ahead of the World Cup. Of most concern, injury and illness have swept the squad and a strong start to the tournament could prove difficult.

But New Zealand should be at least familiar with the conditions, with some players having been in India for about a month. They should be match-hardened, and there will be confidence that the team can build through the tournament if they can weather this early storm.

They will need to muster one of their famed backs against the wall efforts, although there is no shortage of talent with New Zealand boasting a powerful batting order and several speedsters threatening to do damage if conditions are conducive.

Given the uncertainties over New Zealand, Afghanistan might just enter the match as favourites as they eye a strong start to a campaign they hope will go even further than their 2024 breakout.

Afghanistan will arrive confident having won six straight matches in the format before a 15-run defeat to West Indies in their series finale in Dubai last month.

They will unleash a formidable spin-heavy attack that should relish favourable conditions. While other Asian countries are hogging the spotlight, for various reasons, Afghanistan will go in under the radar but internally there should be optimism that they can inflict damage on high-profile opponents.

New Zealand Cricket has taken a pragmatic approach to the proliferation of T20 leagues by allowing players to take up casual agreements to have flexibility with their international commitments. Finn Allen has been one to take up the offer and it meant he missed most of the white-ball tour against India due to the BBL. But he has stated a strong desire to keep playing international cricket, music to the ears of New Zealand’s hierarchy. He clubbed 80 off 38 balls in his return in the fifth T20I in his first international match in 10 months. After a long layoff last year due to a foot injury, Allen ignited title-winners Perth Scorchers and he rewrote the six-hitting records during his destructive rampage. Such is the brutality, he even sometimes made opening partner Mitchell Marsh look relatively sedate by comparison. If he continues his heater – there is some doubt over his fitness for the opener – then New Zealand will get off to flyers.

Rashid Khan, obviously, is Afghanistan’s talisman and looms large over their campaign. There isn’t much more that can be said about the leggie who has taken the most wickets in T20I history with an economy of just six. The burden on his shoulders is even greater these days with the captaincy responsibilities but he should absolutely relish the likely drier surfaces. Rashid, of course, was at the heart of Afghanistan’s famous victory over New Zealand at the last T20 World Cup with a mesmerising 4 for17 from four overs and he’ll fancy something similar here.

New Zealand enter the tournament in disarray as they battle injury and illness. Batters Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway have been struck down with illness, while Allen is nursing a shoulder injury he sustained against India. Allrounder Michael Bracewell and fast bowler Lockie Ferguson have been dealing with calf issues. There is optimism from the New Zealand camp that they will have a near full-strength squad to choose from although Ravindra appears unlikely to recover in time.

New Zealand XI (Probable): Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra/Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (capt), Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry Ish Sodhi

Unlike New Zealand, Afghanistan have few concerns and should field a full-strength line-up which includes their favoured spin-heavy attack.

Afghanistan XI (Probable): Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan (capt), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad

[Cricinfo]