T20I captaincy a three-way race now, Mahmudullah still in contention

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is yet to announce who would lead the team in the Asia Cup T20 and the series after that including the World Cup later this year. Before the Zimbabwe T20Is, Mahmudullah was relieved of captaincy and given a 'break'. Shakib Al Hasan was probably the likeliest candidate to get the role but as he took a leave from the Zimbabwe tour, wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan Sohan was selected as the skipper.

But Sohan's first assignment as captain didn't go well as Bangladesh lost the T20I series and he himself missed the last match due to a finger injury.

Mahmudullah wasn't part of the squad for the Zimbabwe series originally but made a surprise return after Sohan was ruled out. Mahmudullah replaced Sohan in the third T20I but didn't lead the side. Interestingly, Mosaddek Hossain, who is not even part of the central contracts, captained the team in the third T20I.

But now the BCB president Nazmul Hassan has revealed that Mahmudullah is still part of the 'four-way captaincy race' that also involves Shakib, Sohan and Litton Das. 

After a meeting at the BCB headquarters on Thursday, Nazmul stated that the team for the Asia Cup has been finalised and is likely to be announced in a couple of days and that's when the name of the new captain will be revealed. 

Nazmul further mentioned that one of the four candidates has already declined the offer to lead the team. Although he didn't clearly tell who the player was, it's almost certain that Litton doesn't want to be the captain.
  
"There were more names. We first thought about Litton Das and then many said that Sohan would be a good option for the future. There are some issues here. We have to discuss the terms and conditions with whoever we decide to make the captain," he said.

"Out of the four names, one of them hasn't agreed to lead the team. We have to sit with the rest of them. Sohan is injured. So I won't tell whether Shakib is going to be the next captain or not," he added.