Najmul Hossain Shanto- File Photo

DHAKA, Feb 12, 2025 (BSS) - Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto saw a positive outcome of not getting much chance to play in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) for his side Fortune Barishal, which eventually lifted the title.

Explaining the reasons behind seeing the positivity in not playing in BPL, a T20 format, Shanto said, the off time gave him much opportunity to prepare for the ICC Champions Trophy, which is a 50-over format of cricket.

“I could not play much in BPL, but there were some positive aspects in it too,” Shanto said here today.

“I got the opportunity to bat regularly at net. The coaches helped me with how to prepare a little more. I also worked on my fitness.”

He believes the extra preparation for the tournament will bring a good result for him.

“I was able to prepare very well during that time off from the BPL. I hope that if everything goes well, the Champions Trophy will go well for me.”

Fortune Barishal captain Tamim Iqbal said it’s not the performance that prompted them to drop Shanto, rather he didn’t find place in the playing XI due to the combination.

But Shanto’s form was not encouraging one also in BPL. He scored 56 runs in five matches, he played for Barishal and 41 of them came in one match. He made just 15 runs in the rest of the four matches.

Shanto’s overall performance in T20 International cricket also didn’t go augurs well for him. Last year, he scored 358 runs in 20 T20 innings, but the strike rate was a meager 102.57.

Although the shortest format seemed to have not suited him much, Shanto’s form in ODI cricket is healthy. In the last 10 ODI innings, he has scored 493 runs on an average of 61.62.

In this format, he also played a match-winning innings of 76 runs against Afghanistan in his last match.

However, Shanto played against Afghanistan in early November last year. Then he couldn't make room in the West Indies series due to injury. So he will lead to Champions Trophy without much cricket with him.

But the skipper was unfazed by it, saying: “I will play an ODI match after a long time but the preparation is going on here. There was a match scenario practice yesterday, and we’ll play a match today too.”

“We’ll play a practice match against Pakistan ahead of the Champions Trophy. I have been playing this format a lot since childhood, so it will not be much of a problem to cope with despite long gap.”

Shanto also feels relieved to remember the memory of his last ODI innings which came in a match-winning cause against Afghanistan.

“I have good memories in ODIs, I played a good innings in the last match against Afghanistan, despite I admit, I am not in a good stead in T20s,” he said.

“The thing is that I scored a fair amount of runs last year in international cricket, but my strike rate (in T20 cricket) may not up to the mark.”

But overall, if you talk about runs, I scored fairly well,” he said.

“I believe I am a better batter than that. I'm not worried about that (T20) format. What is pleasing for me that I have runs with me in ODI format.”