Sports Desk

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday executed the decision to suspend Chandika Hathurusingha as the national team’s head coach.

Apart from this, the contract with him till 2025 Champions Trophy has been cancelled. Earlier, it was decided to terminate him with a show cause notice within 48 hours. The decision of suspension was formally implemented in an emergency Zoom meeting of the BCB on Thursday, reports BSS.

BCB president Faruque Ahmed, who is in Dubai for the ICC meeting, held a Zoom meeting with the directors in the country.

While announcing Hathurusingha's suspension last Tuesday, Faruque Ahmed said," We have served Hathurusinga with a show-cause notice and suspended him from duty as head coach. We have decided to appoint an interim coach for the upcoming South Africa, UAE, West Indies tour and ICC Champions Trophy in the next year."

“Hathurusingha has been asked to respond to the show-cause notice within 48 hours and his suspension will be effective immediately. After this, his contract will be suspended.”

The BCB boss also named Phill Simmons as the interim coach, saying that he would be at the helm of the Tigers till the Champions Trophy.

There was a discussion about Hathurusingha's response and his legal recourse in the Zoom meeting on Thursday. The BCB has decided to deal with it legally if the former coach goes the legal route.

BCB had a two-year contract with Hathurusingha in his second stint.

Hathurusingha's earlier stint as the Bangladesh head coach had run from 2014 to 2017. Under his supervision, Bangladesh reached the quarterfinal of the ODI World Cup for the first time in 2015, reached the semifinal of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and won home series against India, Pakistan and South Africa in 2015.

But he sent his resignation letter through e-mail in the middle of the Bangladesh team's tour of South Africa.

Bangladesh played 10 Tests, 35 ODIs and 35 T20Is under Hathurusingha in his second term. Win-loss ratio in Tests are identical with five losses against five wins. In ODIs, Bangladesh won 13 and lost 19 while three matches produced no result. Under his guidance, Bangladesh had 19 wins, 15 losses and one no result in 35 T20 matches.

However, as is the irony, he was sacked in his term ahead of another South Africa series.