The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Tuesday suspended head coach Chandika Hathurusingha for misconduct, including an alleged assault of a player.
BCB president Faruque Ahmed told the reporters during a press conference in Mirpur that they took the decision on two counts of code of conduct breaches.
鈥楽o there are two things that happened here. One is misconduct with a player. And misconduct as an employee. We鈥檝e considered these two things well enough and explained to him these two things,鈥� said Faruque.聽
Former West Indies all-rounder and coach Phil Simmons was named as the interim coach of the Bangladesh national team.
He will continue until the Champions Trophy in February next year. Simmons鈥� first assignment will be the two-Test series against South Africa, which begins in Dhaka on October 21. He will reportedly arrive for his duty today.
There were murmurs about the future of Hathurusingha 鈥� who was appointed as Bangladesh coach in February 2023 for the second stint after serving this role previously from 2014 to 2017 鈥� since Faruque became the BCB president in August.
But Faruque explained that his personal opinion has had no effect in this regard.
鈥業 didn鈥檛 say that I didn鈥檛 like him personally; I said that on the basis of talent I had as a former player. I said that Hathurusingha didn鈥檛 have anything new to give from my personal point of view. But nothing personal has influenced this. My personal liking-disliking has zero effect on this,鈥� said the BCB boss.
There were reports that Hathurusingha slapped left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed during the 2023 World Cup, an allegation Hathurusingha has since denied.
Faruque, though, didn鈥檛 mention the name of that particular player. He only said, 鈥楲et鈥檚 not talk about this. This is so unexpected, and this should not happen.鈥�
聽鈥楾his is not good at all for that particular guy [player]. You understand clearly that he is a national player.
鈥業 don鈥檛 want to defend someone. Anything could happen in the heat of the moment. But you cannot physically assault a national team player. This is the punishment for that, what is happening now. This should鈥檝e happened earlier.鈥�
Faruque also said that he was happy about this decision.
鈥業鈥檓 happy as a former player and former captain and as a board president that finally we have done this.鈥�
The other misconduct of Hathurusingha as per BCB is that he took more than his allocated leaves without prior notice.
聽鈥楾he leave he took was extra, and that was part of the misconduct. He only informed via email here and there. We are all accountable. There were some serious breaches,鈥� said Faruque.
The BCB has served Hathurusingha, who was with the players on Tuesday in Mirpur, with a 48-hour show-cause and suspension notice from the duty as the head coach of the national team.
Faruque also mentioned that the notice period wasn鈥檛 necessary once they found the evidence of misconduct. But they wanted to go through all the legal points as he is an international personality.
Hathurusingha didn鈥檛 respond to 抖阴精品, as he was asked for his comments while writing this report.
Hathurusingha鈥檚 contract was up to February 2025. So for the second time, he is going to leave the role before the contracts end.
In 2017, he resigned from the position of Bangladesh head coach abruptly after the South Africa tour. He then went on to join as the head coach of Sri Lanka but was later suspended.
Before that, during his first stint as the head coach, Bangladesh had some historic success. Under him, Bangladesh made it to the quarterfinals of the 2015 World Cup and the semifinals of the 2017 Champions Trophy.
Bangladesh also won series over Pakistan, India, and South Africa at home under him.
This time around, Bangladesh won five out of 10 Tests, 13 of 35 ODIs, and 19 of 35 T20Is. They clinched a historic Test series win over Pakistan in their home. But most recently, Bangladesh were hammered by India in both Test and T20I series.
Faruque, though, said that their decision has nothing to do with the performances.
鈥楾he performance was mixed鈥� and they鈥檇 to 鈥榓ccept those.鈥�