As had been predicted, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has removed Mohammad Ashraful as skipper and reinstated him with lanky pace bowler Mashrafe bin Mortaza for the upcoming tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Moreover, upcoming all-rounder, Shakib Al Hasan has been appointed as vice-captain.  

However, BCB chief selector, Rafiqul Alam made it clear that change was not related to team’s poor show in the just concluded T20 World Cup, but to trim down the load on  him so he could show his best as a batsman.

It should be noted here that Bangladesh performed very badly and failed to reach the Super Eight phase of the T20 World Cup in England. The team, under Ashraful lost badly to India and Ireland in their first round matches.

Commenting over Ashraful, Alam said: “We want him (Ashraful) to play his natural game as a batsman. He has that potential.''

Ashraful took over the captaincy from Habibul Bashar in June 2007 at the age of 22.

Bangladesh will leave for the Caribbean on June 29 to play two Tests, three ODI’s and a Twenty20 international.