Former Bangladesh cricket team coach Steve Rhodes said he felt honored to return here as a coach with different responsibilities.
The 57-year old Englishman, who coached Bangladesh for more than a year before being sacked following the World Cup 2019, joined Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 franchise Comilla Victorians.
“It's great to be back. The one thing when I arrived is that the Comilla Victorians made me feel very welcome which was very special but thankfully for me whenever I go to Bangladesh the people seem you know so accommodating and so friendly. And I feel very honored to be back here with good people in the place that I do really enjoy,” said Rhodes to the media.
Despite having a brief stint, Rhodes achieved one of the greatest successes for the Tigers as he was in charge of the team when they won their only tournament till date, the tri-nation series between Bangladesh, the West Indies and Ireland just before the gala event in 2019.
However, Bangladesh Cricket Board did not like the outcome in the World Cup and he was removed.
But the Yorkshire-born former English cricketer believes the performance was not really disappointing from his disciples.
When asked about his departure from Bangladesh, he said, “Well, I don't really want to get dragged into any conversation about the BCB or anything. I don't think that's fair, that's history. All I can say is the World Cup - If you look back at the games you may be apart from the Pakistan game, but we played pretty well in all the games. So even in defeat against England against India, we put up a good show. You know weren't we? It wasn't an annihilation of Bangladesh.
"We played some really good cricket and mixed in between in the World Cup, we actually had some good wins, and in New Zealand, we pushed them close in the World Cup so you know what, I don't think it was as bad as people probably think, but you know people’s departure from any post or any job, you know, people have opinions, but I don't really want to get too involved in all that. All I can say is how pleased I am to be back.”
Rhodes’ main job will be to support Comilla’s head coach Mohammad Salahuddin, one of the most revered and successful domestic coaches, and he is eager to work in his new role.
“Salahuddin as you all know has been a very successful coach and not just in the BPL, but the way he's helped and brought along some tremendous cricketers. His success hopefully will continue as head coach. He is the head coach I'm here to assist, to help, not just the players, but the coaches as well. Hopefully my experience and my knowledge of cricket I might be able to add a little bit here and there,” said Rhodes.
The Englishman also observed the last Asia Cup final, where Bangladesh were narrowly beaten by India despite a brilliant century from Liton Das, and the coach was happy to see his former student, who will play for Comilla, doing great at international level.
“Liton Das, you know I always felt he was a very special player and I think now he's an even better player. The day that I thought this guy was a good player was in the Asia Cup final, when he scored 100, that was an amazing innings in quite tough conditions against a very good team and he played a marvelous innings that day and now he's become a little bit more consistent with that form as well," said Rhodes.
"He's growing and getting better, and that's the good thing Liton hasn't stopped, you know he's not reached how he can get yet. He can get higher so he can improve even more, but he's improving and he's a good quality international player now."