Former Sri Lankan cricketer Janak Champika Gamage has joined the Bangladesh women’s team as the head coach, replacing Australian Shane Deitz.
The 50-year old, who used to be a pace-bowling all-rounder in his playing days, arrived in Dhaka yesterday and is set to join the national women’s camp today.
Having signed for a year, Gamage’s first assignment with the Bangladesh women’s team is the upcoming 17th Asian Games to be held in Incheon, South Korea next month.
“I have some ideas about the Bangladesh team as I know they beat Sri Lanka in the previous tournament. I would like to work on fitness, fielding and running between the wickets ahead of the tournament,” said Gamage.
The Sri Lankan is quite familiar with Bangladesh cricket as he played for Mohammedan in 1987 and also coached the side in 2005.
Gamage can speak Bengali as he has a lot of friends here and said it will work as a big advantage while communicating with the cricketers. He went on to say his main aim will be to improve the team’s ranking in the international stage.
“I learned to speak Bengali by talking with friends over here. I think this will be a big advantage for me to communicate with the players as most of the foreign coaches do not understand the language and my aim would be to reach a better position in the ICC rankings,” he said.