Sports Desk:

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan Papon said that the current national head coach Chandika Hathurusingha is facing problems to adjust in the national team’s dressing room as he does not give special preference to anyone, a prerequisite to do well in this part of the world.

The Sri Lankan head coach of Tigers Hathurusingha had differences with all the senior players- Mashrafe bin Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad- at some point during his two tenures.

In the recent past, Tamim had a fallout with him that many believe is one of the reasons he opted out from the national team as well as quitting from the position of Bangladesh ODI squad ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023 in India.

“I agree that his man-management style and communication are totally different. His biggest problem is that it’s difficult to adjust to our country. I don’t deny it but I won’t give any more details regarding this,” Nazmul told the reporters recently.

“As I said, even if no one knows the real news, if you ask me, his style is totally different. He doesn’t give anyone special consideration, which is a big problem. In our country’s perspective you have to have some [special consideration],” he said.

“So, since he has worked in Australia, New South Wales with the likes of Steve, the environment there and the style that it runs in, it’s difficult to run things that way in Bangladesh. So, there can be a difference here, especially for our more experienced players,” he said adding that other cricketers seemed fine with him.

“But the rest of the players, the team that went to the World Cup, I didn’t hear a complaint from a single player and most of them praised,” he added.

The BCB president further said that they re-appointed Hathurusingha as there was no foreign coach available for the whole time and most of them wanted a break during the franchise-based T20 tournament.

“When we brought him (for the first time) and interviewed him (first time), I understood that he is a very strict person much like a strict principal and I admit it. I felt it was important to bring discipline to the country. His analysis and planning were brilliant like he could plan in which wicket with which ball we could play against which opponent and we got success at that time and were happy with him,” said the BCB chief.

“Bangladesh got recognition at the international stage during that point of time because there was no place for Zimbabwe and Bangladesh before that. Later we brought Steve Rhodes on a short-term basis and he was not as highly rated as Hathurusingha and later we got another highly rated coach Russell Domingo because it is not easy to be the head coach of South Africa for such a long time,” he continued.

“When we are looking for coaches they are not available for full time as they need time for franchise-based T20 tournament but we decided that we need coaches on a full-time basis and due to that lot of big names were eliminated and from the rest we had he seemed to be the best and was proven,” the BCB boss added.

“There was a change in management and players got a shake-up and later they accepted it and later they worked under different management for a long time because Rhodes and Domingo were different in approach,” he further added.=

“Later when Hathurusingha arrived certainly it was difficult to adjust and it can happen and I am not denying it. I think unfortunately the board should have been more involved and have more communication with the players and understand the players,” he concluded.