Bangladesh cricket coach Chandika Hathurusingha resigns

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha has resigned.

Sports Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 9 Nov 2017, 10:44 AM
Updated : 9 Nov 2017, 03:06 PM

The news spread on Thursday afternoon following reports in the Sri Lankan media.

Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan informed the senior cricketers about Hathurisingha’s resignation and later confirmed the media in the evening.

Nazmul said Hathurusingha sent the resignation letter in the beginning of October.

"Maybe after the second Test against South Africa. I'm not sure about the time, but certainly it was before Oct 15," he said.

The BCB chief said the head coach did not assign any reason to his decision in the letter.

"So it's difficult to speak about the reason before speaking to him. He just said he was not interested to continue anymore," Nazmul said.

A source at the BCB said Hathurusingha, currently on leave, has not responded to any communications made by the board in the last few days.

ESPNcricinfo reported that Sri Lanka Cricket is pursuing Hathurusingha and is presently in negotiations with him.

And the appointment of Bangladesh's former batting coach Thilan Samaraweera, a close friend of Hathurusingha, by Sri Lanka Cricket is an indication that Hathurusingha is also joining him.   

Sri Lanka is looking for a new coach after the resignation of Graham Ford in June. Nic Pothas is in charge of coaching Sri Lanka now on a temporary basis.

Hathurusingha took charge of Bangladesh cricket team in June 2014. BCB extended his contract last year to the 2019 World Cup.

The coach needs to inform the board about resignation a month before leaving in line with the contract. Now Sri Lanka are not facing much problem with that because they want Hathurusingha in January.

Hathurusingha is ranked fourth among most paid cricket coaches. Sri Lankan media have reported that the country's cricket authorities offered him the same amount and facilities as Bangladesh were giving him.

In the three years of the Sri Lankan, Bangladesh made much progress, especially in One Day International.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's team played the quarterfinals in the 2015 World Cup and semifinals of the Champions Trophy this year.

Bangladesh also made improvement in ODI rankings by beating India, Pakistan, and South Africa at home.

In Test, Bangladesh snatched first victory over England and Australia at home and Sri Lanka in their soil.

But the Tigers suffered a clean sweep in all Test, ODI and T20I series in the last South Africa tour.