Hathurusingha returns as Bangladesh head coach on two-year contract

He will join the management in February, confirms BCB

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has reappointed Chandika Hathurusingha as head coach for the Tigers in all formats for a two-year term starting in February.

The board confirmed the Sri Lankan’s return in a statement on Tuesday.

Cricket New South Wales had also confirmed that Hathurusingha was leaving the position of assistant coach with them earlier on Tuesday.

Since Russell Domingo signed off last month, words of Hathurusingha assuming the role once more were on the lips of many.

In a press briefing, BCB President Nazmul Hassan said Hathurusingha will arrive on Feb 19 or 20 and that the board had eyes on five individuals for the position of Hathurusingha’s assistant.

Stepping down from his role as assistant coach of New South Wales in 2014, the 54-year-old Sri Lankan coached Bangladesh for three years until 2017 when the Tigers recorded several landmark achievements.

However, his tenure also marked a deteriorating relationship with the cricketers in the team.

After Hathurusingha resigned, Nazmul said the coach was not happy with the players’ mentality and dedication towards the game. He had also questioned Shakib Al Hasan’s sense of duty towards the team and the country.

Shakib is now the captain of the Test and T20I teams.

Following his departure from Bangladesh in 2017, Hathurusingha took over Sri Lanka as head coach for a three-year term but failed to make it halfway through the contract.

He was sacked in 2019. It followed a lawsuit with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board over his financial contract.

He then returned to Sydney where he lived with his family and rejoined New South Wales as an assistant coach.

BCB Chief Executive Officer Nizam Uddin Chowdhury thinks Hathurusingha's previous tenure with the Tigers will provide positive impetus in his new episode in Bangladesh.

“His experience and knowledge of Bangladesh cricket will give him an advantage. It will be useful to the cricketers. He is a seasoned tactician.”

BCB officials had earlier spoken about bringing in Sridharan Sriram, who was the team’s technical consultant in the T20 World Cup, for the shortest format.

But Hathurusingha’s appointment as head coach in all formats rules out any possibility of Sriram’s return.

Hathurusingha is set to begin his new spell with the Tigers with a limited-overs series against the world T20 and ODI champions England.