Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto reveals ‘big call’ that has turned the team’s fortunes around

In less than two years, Bangladesh have whitewashed Pakistan twice in a 2-Test series, under the leadership of Shanto.

Following a 2-0 whitewash of Pakistan at home, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto has revealed a major call that he has taken in recent years to enhance his team's performance in the longest format.

And what a series Najmul Hossain Shanto has had as a batsman. (AFP)

Earlier this week, when Bangladesh won in Sylhet to complete a 2-0 win, it was not the first time they had done this to Pakistan. Two years ago, when they travelled to Pakistan, they had won 2-0 too. That makes 4 wins out of 4 against Pakistan. Incidentally, prior to the 2024 series, Bangladesh had never beaten Pakistan in Tests.

Shanto revealed at some point he realised Bangladesh needed to take 20 wickets to win Test matches and that could only be done with five out-and-out bowlers. "When you have five bowlers, you have options in your hand. I believe you need five bowlers to take 20 wickets. This time we took the challenge of playing five bowlers in both Tests, something that we didn't dare do in the past," ESPNcricinfo reported him as saying.

Shanto's Bangladesh showed a lot of character in the series. In the first Test at Mirpur, they gave Pakistan enough overs to chase down 268. Then in Sylhet, on a bowling-friendly opening day-wicket, they managed to score from 116-6 to 278 thanks to a Litton Das ton.

Those two instances particularly highlighted that the hosts meant business. That they won't be pulled down by tricky situations, and they will only be playing for victories.

"I think declaring the second innings in the first Test was a big moment in our cricket. I think it will help us in the future. We lost both tosses in the series too, and were sent in to bat in tough conditions. We therefore found out that our batting can get us into good positions despite being put into bat in tough conditions," Shanto, who contributed 101 and 87 in the Mirpur Test, said.

It's just the beginning though!

But Bangladesh need to do a lot more. Beating Pakistan is a good start, but they will have to be consistent against much bigger teams, ideally home and abroad, but if not abroad, they should definitely beat other visiting teams consistently at home. Shanto acknowledged this.

"I am hopeful of even greater achievements for Bangladesh. Overall, these four Tests were really special for the team. We have to keep building our Test team. Once we win consistently at home and abroad, I can say that the team is better than before," he said.