Out-of-form Mominul Haque steps down as Bangladesh Test captain after series loss to Sri Lanka
The Hindu
Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque has managed only 162 runs from six Tests this year, leading him to quit captaincy ahead of the West Indies tour
An out-of-form Mominul Haque has stepped down as Bangladesh Test captain in the wake of their home series loss against Sri Lanka, according to media reports.
The 30-year-old, who has led the side since October 2019, has looked under pressure and managed only 162 runs from six matches this year, with just one half-century.
He managed a mere 11 runs in three innings against Sri Lanka, who won the two-Test series 1-0 in May.
"I felt that captaining a side is tough when I am not scoring and the team is not winning. I think it is best to quit the captaincy," Mominul told reporters after meeting Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan on Tuesday. "I feel I should focus on my batting."
"It wasn't a hard decision. A captain has to contribute, otherwise it brings a lot of pressure. The board president told me to stay on but I don't want to be the captain."
The BCB is yet to name a replacement, but media reports said all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan could return to lead the side.
Shakib has been selective about Test cricket of late and BCB chief Hassan said the player had to be available for all matches if he were to return as the test captain.
“Writing, in general, is a very solitary process,” says Yauvanika Chopra, Associate Director at The New India Foundation (NIF), which, earlier this year, announced the 12th edition of its NIF Book Fellowships for research and scholarship about Indian history after Independence. While authors, in general, are built for it, it can still get very lonely, says Chopra, pointing out that the fellowship’s community support is as valuable as the monetary benefits it offers. “There is a solid community of NIF fellows, trustees, language experts, jury members, all of whom are incredibly competent,” she says. “They really help make authors feel supported from manuscript to publication, so you never feel like you’re struggling through isolation.”
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.