‘Tough for Sriram to join full time’

Sridharan Sriram's name had been floating about for a while even after Chandika Hathurusingha's appointment as Bangladesh's head coach for all three formats.

Sriram had been in charge of the Tigers in the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup last year but he was given the post of technical consultant. The BCB and Sriram were then unable to come to an agreement ahead of the England series because Sriram asked for the head coach role in T20Is, but BCB were looking for someone who could serve full-time and Sriram's IPL obligations were a deterrent.

BCB cricket operations chairman briefed members of the media and talked about Sriram's chances of returning.

"I don't think Sriram is available. Most probably he will not be able to join now since he has an assignment in the IPL. So it will be very tough for him to come here full-time and chances are very slim. We never confirmed he would be given responsibility of the T20 side but he had said that if he wanted any role, it was as T20 head coach. At the same time, we had some terms and conditions. So when we appoint a head coach, he has to be there full time. We can't allow the coach time off for the IPL or other franchise duties. So maybe because of that he isn't interested," he said.

It was learned that the coach held talks with BCB president Nazmul Hassan recently over the role that BCB had offered. The BCB president had suggested to the media previously that Sriram was in the shortlist.

Meanwhile, Khaled Mahmud is set to return to his role as team director from the England series, having already started planning with Hathurusingha. "The decision [on team director appointment comes from the board but since it's the responsibility of the cricket operations I feel that it should be him [Mahmud]," Jalal told the media yesterday.