Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo said he is not concerned of what the media are saying about him and his performance as Tigers head coach, and focusing on his job rather than comments from the outside.
The Tigers had a disastrous T20 World Cup last year under the coaching panel led by Domingo, after winning home series against second string Australia and New Zealand.
Bangladesh Cricket Board director Khaled Mahmud was appointed team director to work closely with the national team for an immediate betterment in results.
Later major changes happened gradually in the coaching panel of Bangladesh cricket team as BCB did not renew contracts of fielding coach Ryan Cook and pace bowling coach Ottis Gibson and batting coach Ashwell Prince resigned.
Prince’s resignation actually came after the arrival of Jamie Siddons in Bangladesh as consultant although it was unclear initially which roles Siddon would perform.
Siddons, who is a former coach of the Tigers, was eventually named as batting consultant after Prince stepped down.
It was learnt that Mahmud and Siddons are running the training sessions in the last few days in this series, and that raises questions of Domingo’s full control as the head coach of the national team.
Before the second and penultimate ODI against Afghanistan when Domingo was asked whether he is confident continuing as the head coach of Bangladesh, the South African replied he is not bothered what the media and others are saying.
“You must ask the BCB. If I weren’t a confident coach, I wouldn’t be coaching an international team. Whatever the media or public say, for me, I don’t want to sound rude, but it is not that important. You (media) have a job to do so you can write what you want about me and the players, it is important that I keep that noise away from the players. If I get affected by it, I can’t expect my players to not be affected by it," said Domingo.
“Again, I am not being rude when I say this, I am just being honest, I can’t understand anything you write most of the time, so it is not that important for me."
Former captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza once offered to have a chat with Domingo on the team.
While giving an answer to the Mashrafe meeting, Domingo informed that he is interested only on the players who are part of the squad at the moment.
“Has Mash retired yet? To be honest, I am not interested in players who are not part of the squad at the moment. Like I said, noise from outside – what people say or write – not that important in my life. My focus is on my team, my family and my job. Not too much else,” Domingo added.
Domingo also clarified the roles of Siddons, Mahhmud and himself in the team and hoped the side would benefit with everyone onboard.
“For me, the team director is very much a link between me and the board members. Communicate what’s happening. Communicate what we are thinking about selection. I got enough on my plate to talk to directors about what the line-up is going to be, what the toss is going to do. I don’t want to be focusing on that. Great to have Chacha (Mahmud) there. He can feed all those information and take the stress away from me.
“And Siddons is an experienced coach who has worked all around the world. He knows the system. He probably knows these players better than I do. He has been here before. It is good to have him on board. He will bring a lot of experience to our coaching staff,” Domingo concluded.