As soon as the World Cup ended, Bangladesh are scheduled to face another cricketing series. The two-match Test series against New Zealand begins on Tuesday at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
However, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is yet to issue an official statement regarding the World Cup failure. The board still needs to talk to the coach, captain and team management.
In fact, BCB is waiting for discussion at the next board meeting. The BCB board will hold a meeting in the last week of this month or the first week of December, and the focus will be on the Bangladesh team's disappointing performance in the World Cup. From insider sources, it is known that most of the BCB officials are ready to confront ChandikaHathurusingha as they will mainly blame him for team selection, frequent changes in batting order, and other causes that made the World Cup a fiasco.
They may even request his immediate sacking. However, the coach's contract with BCB remains until February 2025, so it will not be easy to dismiss him. If the coach is fired before his contract expires, the board will have to pay him a hefty salary. However, BCB directors are yet to clarify BCB President Nazmul Hasan Papon’s position on the issue.
After the World Cup, Hathurusingha stayed with the team in Dhaka for a few days. He then went to Australia and returned on Wednesday ahead of the New Zealand series.
Captain Shakib Al Hasan returned early from the World Cup due to a finger injury. He also left Dhaka for a few days to stay with his family in the US. He returned to Dhaka on Tuesday morning. The BCB president has not spoken publicly to any of them about the World Cup failure, which is surprising.
It's amazing in the sense that whatever the result, even after the bilateral series, the cricket board chief usually discusses about it with the coach and captain. And this is the World Cup! However, one of the major reasons why there is no discussion on the World Cup in the board so far is the preoccupation of Kishoreganj-6 constituency member of parliament Nazmul Hasan about the national elections. But perhaps he is not unfamiliar with the way other board directors are feeling about current head coach.
It is understood that the BCB President will decide what to do in this regard based on the formal input of all members of the Board.
One BCB official on the condition of anonymity said, "There is a lot of discussion around the performance of the players at the World Cup, the performance of the coaching staff and the repeated changes in the batting order. We will discuss why this happened at the board meeting."
