Mushfiqur wanted a change in captaincy - Sylhet coach

Sarwar Imran, the Sylhet Super Stars coach, confirmed that Mushfiqur Rahim resigned as captain on his own terms ahead of the team's clash against Barisal Bulls on Sunday. Shahid Afridi's appearance at the toss merely confirmed rumours that had been going around for close to 48 hours of a change in Sylhet's captaincy.

Imran also revealed plenty of discussion involving the team owner and Afridi, who tried to persuade Mushfiqur to change his decision on the eve of the match. "As far as I know, Mushfiqur said that he wanted to see a change in the captaincy," Imran said after Sylhet's nine-wicket win. "There's a lot of pressure on him. He has to bat, keep wickets and on top of that we have lost two matches by one run and one by six runs. He wanted some relief. I heard about it from the team owner. Shahid Afridi had asked Mushfiqur to remain as captain but Mushfiqur handed it over to him.

I spoke to him during the team meeting. He doesn't want to be captain for the remaining matches in the BPL. We held a few small meetings afterwards. We decided last night that Mushfiqur and Ravi Bopara will help Shahid Afridi in the field, and that's how it was in the middle today. Three of them will captain in the field, and officially the captain will be Shahid Afridi."

Imran said he wasn't open to a change at the top, given the team just won one of their first six matches, but said even Mushfiqur was on the same page as far as the change was concerned.

Mahmudullah, Barisal's captain and Mushfiqur's brother-in-law, said that the resignation surprised him. "It was unexpected. I didn't know that Mushfiqur won't be the captain. But of course it is their decision."

This isn't the first time that Mushfiqur has resigned from the captaincy. In 2013, he quit the Bangladesh captaincy after they lost the ODI series against Zimbabwe but was later convinced by the BCB to continue in the role.