Mahmud set to be named interim coach

An interesting time awaits Bangladesh cricket team as their previous head coach, Chandika Hathurusingha is all set to travel to Dhaka next month with the Sri Lanka side. Hathurusingha after spending almost three and a half years with the Tigers had an absurd way out, in October, resigning from the job and later revealing his decision to join the Lankans in a similar capacity. Bangladesh being the home side will like to register a good start to the new year with positive performances in the tri-nation series comprising Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, followed by the Test match and T20I series at home against the Lankans. However, there will always be the challenge of having Hathurusingha in the opposition bench. The former Sri Lanka cricketer during his stay with the Tigers had worked closely with the batsmen and the mindset of the players. With the BCB yet to find a full-time coach for the national team, former Bangladesh captain and current national team manager Khaled Mahmud will be seen working with the team as the technical advisor during the upcoming events. As the interim coach, the BCB is set to name current High Performance coach Richard Halsall while the other support staff remains the same.

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The official announcement on the interim appointments from the BCB is likely to come just ahead of the tri-series, set to start on January 15. “He (Hathurusingha) of course knows the ins and outs of the current team, given that he worked for around three and a half years. So we will need to plan ourselves keeping this fact in mind. We will need good execution as, at the end of the day, it is a game of bat and ball. We have enough players to execute our plans in the middle. We will try and work to get a good start to the new year,” said Mahmud to the media Monday. Mahmud explaining his role as the technical director of the team said he will play a role similar to that of a coach and the difference is only is terms of the designation.

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“I always try my best to perform a job given to me by the board. It actually is not important for me if I like the role or not. The chief point here is that I work for the national team and an opportunity is there for me,” said Mahmud, who is also a BCB director and chairman of the board’s development committee. “I look forward to giving my best with whatever knowledge I have on the game and on the coaching field,” he added.