The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had high hopes for Chandika Hathurusigha notwithstanding the bad publicity surrounding his return to the role of Head Coach of Bangladesh.
BCB director Khaled Mahmud Sujon refers to Hathurusingha as a “master of planning” and is confident that with his careful planning, the squad will reach a point where they can realize their dream of competing in the 2018 World Cup.
The BCB thinks they have a real opportunity because the World Cup will be staged in India. Bangladesh advanced to the quarterfinals under Hathurusingha’s direction.
in the 2015 World Cup and the 2017 Champions trophy semifinals. Under the direction of the Sri Lankans, Bangladesh also participated in the Asia final on multiple occasions.
However, ever then Hathurusingha left his position as coach, the Tiger has never advanced past the group stage of the international competition. The cricket apex board’s ambition to have a major accomplishment appears to have been essential in choosing him for a second tenure, despite the fact that his exit was not a pleasant one and the relationship between him with BCB became tarnished.
“The ODI World Cup is our main target and we want to achieve big there. We want to do what we have not been able to do so far. We want to do something extraordinary. Like I said, we want to be champions,” Khaled Mahmud Sujon said here today.
“Practically speaking, we definitely want to go to the knock our stage. If we can go there, there will be chance for us. If you play well on certain days, there is chance. Under Hathurusingha’s guidance we played in the knock out stage of some global events. We are now a very experienced team in ODIs. This is our most powerful format. We have been doing well in this format for a long time. The target is now to achieve big.”
Mahmud is aware that they won’t have access to a wicket as low and slow-bouncing as Bangladesh did during the world cup. He again relies on Hathurusignha intending to have a strong preparation since he believes the Sri Lankan-born coach will figure out how to handle the issue.
“We all know, ICC tournaments mean good batting wickets. I also say that, we have to think about the long term process. Yes, winning the series is important for us. It builds confidence. But if we think long term, keeping the World Cup in mind, if we want to do something good, we have to keep the process right. In that case, the wicket will also be a factor,” Mahmud said.
“But we can trust on Hathurusingha who thinks much bigger. As we all know, Hathuru is a good planner. I think to be honest, he is a master of planning. Because he can see much bigger, can see far. So I think the problems will actually be worked on.”
Hathurusingha will land in Bangladesh tonight (Monday) and is set to start work the national team tomorrow.
“It seems that Hathuru will start work from tomorrow. I’m very positive. I always think I mean I’ve worked with a lot of coaches, I’ve had experience working with him. As far as I know him, I am thinking very positively; That he may actually move us forward from where we are.”
“Hathu was not an experienced coach when he coached Bangladesh first time. But he made that team a driving force, we started winning matches, the culture of the dressing room was changed. Many changes came. Now Hathu will get a mature team, he himself is a very mature coach now, so we can hope that we will do better under him now. I believe that Bangladesh will have greater success.”
