BCB chief says Hathurusingha felt he had 'nothing more to give Bangladesh'

Chandika Hathurusingha has told the Bangladesh Cricket Board that he left Bangladesh because he felt he had nothing more to give the Tigers, the board’s President Nazmul Hassan says.

The BCB chief briefed the media after a meeting with the former head coach in Dhaka on Saturday, the first after he resigned as Bangladesh coach early October following Bangladesh's defeat in two Tests in South Africa.

“He (Hathurusingha) was very much frustrated by our performance, mentality, physically - everything in South Africa. He couldn’t even imagine that Bangladesh could play in such a disappointing way,” Hassan said.  

Bangladesh also lost all three ODIs and two T20Is in the tour.

Asked whether the poor performance in South Africa was the reason behind Hathurusingha’s resignation, the BCB chief said the former coach of Bangladesh also had objections to the players’ mentality and mentioned Shakib Al Hasan’s leave as an example of such mentality.

“He (Hathurusingha) could not accept Shakib not going (to South Africa). His (Hathurusingha's) thinking is a bit different from ours,” Hassan said.   

The BCB chief said there might be many such things which the former coach could not discuss due to lack of time.

“There was a communication gap beside many other incidents. Overall, he thought he had nothing more to give this team, and he should leave,” Hassan said.

He said Hathurusingha had filed some reports and would file more before joining Sri Lanka as their head coach on Dec 20.

“He emphasised the mentality of the cricketers. He said they must keep in mind that the country comes first no matter how big a cricketer is,” Hassan said.

In the three years with the Sri Lankan as head coach, 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 improved ODI rankings by beating India, Pakistan, and South Africa at home.

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