‘Break before India match hampered Tigers’
Since the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) severed ties with Steve Rhodes after the Tigers' dismal World Cup, uncertainty has been swirling around the vacant head coach position, with Khaled Mahmud only appointed on an interim basis for the current Sri Lanka tour.
So, when the BCB informed through a media release on Tuesday that a press conference was to be held yesterday, many had expected substantial statements regarding the preferred candidates for the position or at least further updates on ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza -- who was ruled out of the Sri Lanka tour with a last-minute hamstring injury.
Although no updates or statements were given regarding the aforementioned matters, BCB president Nazmul Hassan did mention a few reasons that played a part in their mutual separation with former coach Rhodes.
"The players were given a five-day break before the matches against India and Pakistan. I think that hampered the players' concentration. I am not against giving rest to players. But in a World Cup, when you are about to face two strong opponents like India and Pakistan and you learn that your players are going to Europe tours, how would that feel?
"Giving players a 2-3 days' rest is fine because at that time cricket is all that should be going through a player's mind. The most surprising thing is that I did not know about it. It never happened before. Although there were lapses on everyone's part." said Nazmul.
Nazmul also mentioned that he was not made aware of some last-minute changes to the playing 11 before the game against Pakistan.
"If I talk about team selection, then I should mention that I was with the team till 11:30pm the night before the match against Pakistan. I saw that Mushfiqur [Rahim] had bandages wrapped around his hand and he was not included in the squad [11]. Mashrafe was also not included as he did not practise the day before. But the next day I saw that a different team was fielded."
Nazmul also informed that the board would arrange two T20I matches between Asia All Stars and Rest of the World to celebrate the 100th birthday of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman next year at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
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