Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto wants his side to focus on the upcoming Test series against the West Indies, which begins on Wednesday, rather than think about a potential place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. The team have played six matches in the current cycle, winning three, losing two and drawing one. Currently fourth in the 2025-27 WTC standings, Bangladesh need to win at least four of their remaining six matches and draw one to keep their hopes of reaching the final for the first time alive. Those victories include a 2-0 series sweep over Pakistan and a historic win in Australia.
Bangladesh lost a Test to Zimbabwe and drew against Afghanistan earlier this year, although neither match was part of the World Test Championship and both were played in the UAE. “As I always say, if we can achieve the smaller targets, we’ll achieve the bigger target.
So the immediate focus is on the series against the West Indies,” Shanto said. “We should have won the Test against Afghanistan, but we didn’t play good cricket in the last two days,” Shanto said. “I think everyone is very focused on the Test match,” Simmons said.
“I think there’s that goal and that desire to play in the World Test Championship final, and this is the first time we’ve had that opportunity to be there.”
