Amid reports of Chandika Hathurusingha’s being next in line to become Sri Lanka head coach, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan, on Thursday (November 9), confirmed that the head had submitted his resignation without mentioning any reason behind his sudden decision to step down.
Earlier in the day, Cricbuzz has reported that Hathurusingha is likely to become Sri Lanka’s head coach. The former Sri Lanka international has been reportedly in talks with Sri Lanka Cricket officials since June when Graham Form stepped down.
Hasan revealed Hathurusingha had submitted his resignation quite a while ago when Bangladesh were gearing up to play the ODI series in South Africa last month.
“He had sent me a letter in early October and I think it was even before the ODIs. It was definitely before October 15. He did not show any specific reason, so it is difficult to say before talking with him,” Hasan said of the resignation.
Hasan went on to state that the Sri Lankan was not interested in coaching Bangladesh and was tempted by offers from his home country.
“He mentioned that he is not interested to work. He received the offer from Sri Lanka one year ago and Sri Lanka’s Honorable president also asked him to consider, he had from other places as well and he had shown me quite a few of those offers. It is difficult to say without talking with him why he wants to leave or whether it is a better offer, family issues or something else,” Hasan said.
The BCB supremo further reiterated that the board has no idea as to why Hathurusingha decided to quit all of a sudden.
“He is a professional and what happened all of a sudden that he needed to quit is something we need to find out. Earlier if there was any problem he would tell us. As there is no specific reason, it is difficult to assume,” he said.
“Earlier he submitted a similar letter where he mentioned of a better offer and we could stop him by taking steps that suit him. But this time there is no clue. He said he might come but we could catch him on the phone only once,” he added.
Hathurusingha’s departure will bring an end to quite a successful stint. During his tenure which lasted over three years, he guided Bangladesh to the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup and the semi-final of the 2017 Champions Trophy in addition to ODI series wins over India, Pakistan and South Africa. In Tests, Bangladesh registered their first-ever wins against England and Australia at home, and against Sri Lanka away.
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