'Not just the coach, but the captain too'
Chief selector Faruque Ahmed has overwhelmingly endorsed the idea of providing national coach Chandika Hathurusingha a selector's role. The former national skipper also said that he would love to see the captain perform that role as he believes that the involvement of coach and captain in the selection process will produce greater efficacy.
“I think it's (giving coach a selector role) a very good idea. It's not a new thing in our cricket because in my first term Dav Whatmore had the selector's role and from my previous experience I can tell you that there is nothing wrong in including the national coach in the selection panel,” said Faruque when he was giving his views on the observations of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon and director Khaled Mahmud regarding the issue.
“Chandika has already spent two years here and he has a good idea about a group of players -- 25 odd players -- so his selector's role will be helpful. And I always believe the more heads you will involve the better result you will get. If the main goal is to reach a better solution, then a healthy and logical debate always help you to get the best,” he continued. “And that is the reason I also want the captain to be a part of the selection panel because ultimately the captain leads the team in the middle after all those off-field plans,” he added.
Faruque also identified two issues that he feels need to be seriously considered. “See, if Chandika gets the selector's role he needs to watch domestic matches to uncover new talent. One cannot depend only on a group of players; it will increase the team's value and the job for the other selectors will also be easier. On the other hand, it should also work the other way as it would be good if the selectors are also involved in selecting the playing 11 because it's the selector who picks the team assessing everything, so their input in final team selection will only serve the team's purpose.”
Faruque has a reason to be happy as a chief selector as during his two stints in the panel Bangladesh earned a lot of success; his first stint produced the Tigers' 2007 World Cup success in West Indies, while his second saw the 2015 World Cup success in Australia-New Zealand. “Right from the board president everybody played a part in the success. Little things made a big difference. The selectors' role is to pick the country's best players and the coaches' role is to get the best out of them; this is the way things work. And you can only claim to be a good professional if you do your duty,” he said.
Khaled Mahmud pointed out two issues two days back when he talked about the necessity of a revamp for the selection panel. When Faruque's attention was drawn, he was not interested in making any comment on Mahmud's view that the selectors are not quite good at keeping up with the fast-track thinking of Chandika. “Regarding lack of coordination I must say selectors also must get the proper treatment. See, if you don't send them to foreign tours there will be some gap in thinking,” he observed.