Sports desk: While Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) plan to appoint a coach in April still looks bleak, Khaled Mahmud Sujon, the national team’s manager thinks Courtney Walsh could be a good option to continue with the role of the head coach.
Terming Walsh as the ‘fatherly figure’ Mahmud who himself was the technical director during Bangladesh home series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in last January revealed that Walsh motivated the players well in the just concluded Nidahas Trophy tri-nation T20 series in Sri Lanka, which is one the reasons that the players bounced back from the perpetual failure to move into the final.
“According to me, the board can continue with him if they didn’t get right one. Courtney is a nice man and very honest,” Mahmud said yesterday.
“He motivated the players nicely during the Nidahas trophy. The players also respect him so much. He is like a fatherly figure. He did a fantastic job indeed. And above all he has 40 years experience in cricket, so you can’t question about his experience.”
As he has been involved with the national team for a long time, Mahmud perhaps is the best man to input the idea of what type of coach they need.
“Our players are very emotional and the culture is different. We need a coach who is not only good in his work, but also he should be a nice man,” he remarked.
“The board definitely has the plan and has been searching a coach intensely. I am yet to suggest any name in this post but the board knows what type of coach would suit here well. They are searching a coach in light of those criteria.”
While there was concern about the coach, Mahmud for the time being remained worried about the young players who couldn’t perform to their potential as of now. For instances, the likes of Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman still remains inconsistent, imposing the pressure on the senior players.
The team management also gave chances to some few players like Abu Haider Rony, Nazmul Islam Opu who also couldn’t do anything noteworthy.
“It’s matter of concern. The senior players had to take a huge load because the next generation is yet to be consistent. We have many series coming up which meant we need a big pool of players because of injury concern. The likes of Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiqur, Riyad have been playing all format cricket at a stretch which obviously would make them tired or injured at some phase. If the likes of Soumya, Sabbir, Liton can take the onus, we could rest them for some matches,” Mahmud informed.
However Mahmud was happy to how the players stand tall amid the odds in the Nidahas trophy to make the cut into the final.
“T20 cricket is still a new concept for us but the way the players responded, we can be proud of them. I believe we are now able to reach the goal which we set for us.”
Meanwhile, there was a decision for the national players whose team couldn’t move into the super league to play for another team but Mahmud said the CCDM ruled out this decision. Tamim Iqbal’s Kalabagan couldn’t make it super league while Shakib Al Hasan’s Mohammedan also tasted the same fate.
He explained: “If the players play in other team, next year, the team would want to retain him. Considering this, the CCDM ruled this decision out.”
