Dhaka: Former Bangladesh skipper Khaled Mahmud is likely to be roped in as the interim coach of the Bangladesh cricket team in case the country’s board failed to find a foreign coach.
Earlier this month, Chandika Hathurusingha had tendered his resignation in a letter during Bangladesh cricket team’s disastrous tour of South Africa last month and now he is most likely to be appointed as Sri Lanka’s head coach.
Reflecting on Mahmud’s chances of stepping in place of Hathurusingha, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Nazmul Hassan revealed that the possibilities of the former captain taking over are the “highest” even as they continued to look for a foreign coach.
“If we don’t get a foreign coach before the Sri Lanka series, then we will look at a local coach.We have Khaled Mahmud Shujon; the possibilities of him taking over are highest. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe are scheduled to play an ODI tri-series in January,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Hassan, as saying.
Former England coach Andy Flower has reportedly denied taking over the role, while former Australia opener Justin Langer, another frontrunner for the job, has also been ruled out.
Despite Bangladesh’s many improvements during his tenure, Hathurusingha is believed to be unsatisfied with the state of his present role.
Hathurusingha, who has a contract with BCB that runs till the 2019 World Cup, had once already tried to resign in October last year, but his resignation was not accepted by the board and he was convinced to continue.
It should be noted that Bangladesh had made it to the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup and the semi-final of the 2017 Champions Trophy under him.
Bangladesh had also defeated India, Pakistan and South Africa in home bilateral series, and had moved up the ODI rankings as a result.
ANI