Nahida Akter has been appointed Bangladesh’s new T20I skipper, with the Bangladesh Cricket Board confirming the development to Cricbuzz on Sunday. Nahida takes over from Nigar Sultana, while Sobhana Mostary has been named vice-captain.

Cricbuzz earlier reported that Nahida was the frontrunner to replace Sultana, who decided to step down as T20I captain following the Asian Games to focus more on her game.

“We sat with members of the selection panel along with others and decided to hand over the T20I captaincy to Nahida. Sobhana Mostary will be her deputy,” BCB women’s wing chairman Rafiqul Islam told Cricbuzz on Sunday.

Rafiqul said that the time was right to hand the reins to Nahida, who had been the team’s vice-captain since Sultana took charge as T20I captain in 2022.

“Nahida has been the vice-captain for a pretty long time and now we feel the time is right to give her the responsibility of our T20I squad,” Rafiqul said.

While Sultana has stepped down as the T20I captain, she will continue to lead the ODI side as she did during the recent three-match ODI tour of Australia. The BCB was taken by surprise by Sultana's decision, although it is understood that the wicketkeeper-batter was disappointed with the way she had been treated by the board in recent times.

Bangladesh are next scheduled to play the ICC Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy in Thailand, with their campaign commencing against Pakistan on November 12.