BCB director Nazmul Abedeen Fahim believes Bangladesh's cricketing community should be more empathetic towards national team captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. Fahim notes that continuous criticism has negatively impacted Shanto’s performance and created a challenging environment for the young player, who was given captaincy of all three formats due to his previous form and exceptional batting ability.

Shanto, despite his talent and strong track record, has been facing immense scrutiny following a dip in form alongside recent team struggles. This environment has reportedly led to Shanto’s interest in stepping down from his captaincy role.

Fahim shared his thoughts: “Shanto is a highly talented player who has performed brilliantly in recent games. It’s unfortunate that external pressure is making it difficult for him to lead. As captain, especially for a country like ours, he’s always under scrutiny, and constant criticism doesn’t help. That’s why he’s struggling to perform. We should remember that Shanto, as a young captain, needs our support.”

Fahim further warned that any new captain could face the same scrutiny: “If Shanto steps down, we’ll need someone new, and they’ll face the same criticisms. We must provide our captains with a supportive environment. It’s impossible to become a [MS] Dhoni, Imran [Khan] , [Ranjan] Madugalle or [Steve] Waugh with immediate results. Our culture doesn't allow captains to develop under such pressure, and we need to ease the weight on them.”