Najmul Hossain Shanto has equalled Mushfiqur Rahim’s record for the most Test wins as Bangladesh captain, achieving the milestone in half the number of matches it took his predecessor, and doing so with Mushfiqur watching on from the field as a teammate.
Bangladesh’s 104-run victory over Pakistan in the first Test at Mirpur on Tuesday was Shanto’s seventh win as Test captain. Mushfiqur had set the record across 34 matches between 2011 and 2017. Shanto reached the same tally in just 17.
Shanto’s first Test win as captain came in December 2023, when Bangladesh beat New Zealand by 150 runs in Sylhet. What followed was a period of remarkable success. In August and November 2024, Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan on their own soil, winning both matches in Rawalpindi by 10 wickets and six wickets respectively. In April 2025, Zimbabwe were beaten by an innings and 106 runs in Chattogram. Bangladesh then swept Ireland 2-0 in November 2025, winning the Sylhet Test by an innings and 47 runs before closing out the series with a 217-run victory in Mirpur.
The Mirpur win over Pakistan added the seventh and most historic chapter to that list, representing Bangladesh’s first ever home Test victory against Pakistan.
Among other Bangladesh captains, Shakib Al Hasan leads the next entry on the all-time wins list, having won four Tests from 19 as captain. Mominul Haque managed three wins from 17.
The Mirpur Test offered Shanto the chance not only to set a new captaincy landmark but also to achieve something no Bangladesh batter has ever done and only three men in the entire history of Test cricket have managed: scoring centuries in both innings of a Test match on three separate occasions.
Shanto had already accomplished this feat twice. In Mirpur in 2023 against Afghanistan, he scored 146 in the first innings and 124 in the second. The following year against Sri Lanka in Galle, he made 148 in the first innings and finished unbeaten on 125 in the second.
Only three cricketers in history have achieved the feat three times: India’s Sunil Gavaskar, who did it first, followed by Australia’s Ricky Ponting and, most recently, David Warner.
Shanto came agonisingly close. He had scored 101 in the first innings in Mirpur, and when he walked out to bat in the second innings on the final morning, a place alongside those legends was within reach. He reached 87 before falling lbw to Noman Ali attempting a reverse sweep.
It is likely that the demands of the match situation cost him those final 13 runs. With a declaration needed and runs required quickly, Shanto played with urgency rather than caution, venturing down the pitch on several occasions and attempting the reverse sweep more than once. On the final attempt, he missed and was trapped in front.
