If Bangladesh don't progress further in the Twenty20 World Cup, their game against Pakistan in the group stage at Adelaide Oval Sunday will be the last assignment for national T20 team technical consultant Sridharan Sriram as per his current contract.
In August this year, Bangladesh Cricket Board appointed former Indian all-rounder Sriram for the Asia Cup 2022, held in the United Arab Emirates, and the T20 World Cup, now ongoing in Australia.
Discussions are abound in the community if BCB will offer an extension of the contract to Sriram, who is confident of what he has achieved so far in his short stay.
“I am looking at one game at a time, one tournament at a time. My goal is now just to, we want to finish the T20 World Cup on a good note, so my focus is only on that. I haven't thought about too far ahead,” said Sriram to the media in Adelaide Saturday.
Bangladesh under Sriram played 12 T20Is and won four with the Pakistan game to spare.
Bangladesh lost both the games in the Asia Cup, won two in a bilateral series against hosts UAE before suffering defeats in all four games in the tri-nation series involving Pakistan and hosts New Zealand.
Participating in the Super 12s of the T20 World Cup this year, Bangladesh till Saturday won two matches of the four games played.
The side are being lauded for the competitiveness shown whilst picking up wins against the Netherlands and Zimbabwe before almost reaching the shore against India.
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“This is the best tournament Bangladesh have ever had in a T20 World Cup. We've never won two games in Super 12s in the history of Bangladesh cricket, so we've done that, so I think the boys should be proud of themselves,” said Sriram.
BCB director and chairman of the cricket operations committee, Jalal Younus held himself back from making a comment on Sriram's future but said there is nothing to complain and only positives to take forward.
“He [Sriram] is doing well with the team. We liked his way of work, to be honest, and he has been able to hold the team together,” said Jalal, who is travelling with the team in Australia.
“I cannot comment on his future at this point as it is something to be discussed in the board,” the BCB director added.
To qualify for the last four, Bangladesh have no option but to secure a win against Pakistan but before that hope that the Dutch defeat South Africa in the day's first game, also at Adelaide Oval.
India lead Group 2 with six points with all the teams having played four games each.
South Africa are at No 2 in the group points table with five points, while Bangladesh and Pakistan have four points each.
Pakistan however, are ahead of Bangladesh in terms of net run rate.
Zimbabwe and the Netherlands are at the bottom of the table with three and two points respectively.