Najmul Hossain Shanto

A classic left-handed opener with a touch of finesse, Najmul Hossain, also known as Shanto, plays professional cricket for Bangladesh national team. 

Shanto grabbed the attention of scouts in his schooling days when he scored a double-century in a school one-day match which instantly earned him a spot in the U-17 Bangladesh cricket team. He made his first-class debut playing for the North Zone against the East Zone on May 7, 2015. The batter was selected in the U-19 squad for the 2014 ICC Cricket World Cup at the age of 15 and in 2016 he played another U-19 World Cup.

After a demolishing 2016 U-19 World cup, he made his maiden T20 domestic appearance playing for Comilla Victorians in the 2016-17 Bangladesh Premier League. In December 2017, Najmul made a historic opening partnership with Mizanur Rahman in a domestic first-class match playing for Rajshahi Division. His dominance in longer formats showed prominence in the 2017-18 Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League where he was the leading run-scorer with 749 runs in 16 matches.

After a surreal domestic season, he was added to Bangladesh's Test squad ahead of the second Test against New Zealand and made his debut on January 20, 2017, however, it was a disappointing one. 

In the following year, Shanto played his maiden ODI match against Afghanistan on September 20, 2018. The match was a horrific one where Bangladesh lost the game by 136 runs against an inexperienced Afghanistan team. After a month, he was named as the captain of Bangladesh squad for the men’s cricket tournament at the 2019 South Asian Games where Bangladesh won the gold medal after beating Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in the final.

Failing to make proper use of the opportunities presented to him, he was eventually dropped from the squad multiple times to work on his consistency and enhance his skills in the domestic circuit. Still a young prodigy, Najmul has already broken into the Bangladesh squad in all three formats. Backed up by the national selectors, Shanto secured his spot in a crumbling Bangladesh Team and made a name for himself with the bat.