Mahmud not interested!

Khaled Mahmud
Khaled Mahmud

The visiting Sri Lanka team were enjoying their time, but hosts Bangladesh did not have that luxury. The Tigers were busy in the nets of Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday, as they look to salvage some pride in the T20s after losing both the ODI and Test series.

Former captain Khaled Mahmud, presently the team director, was tasked to manage the Tigers during the home encounters with Sri Lanka, amid roumours that he might be given the charge on a permanent basis. He did not enjoy the best of his days at the helm, as the hosts were outplayed by the visitors, coached by Chandika Hathurusingha, the immediate past Bangladesh coach.

It seems that the pressure is too much for Mahmud, who is simultaneously a BCB director, coach of a number of teams in the domestic circuit and now selector-manager for the Tigers. And it was evident in his reaction while speaking to newsmen on Monday.

"Personally I am not interested," he said when asked if he would be technical director during the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka next month.

"To be honest, I do not feel like working with Bangladesh's cricket anymore. Things have turned very very nasty. I have always worked for the team, not to serve my personal interest. But I am done now," said Mahmud, who was called the 'Fighter Cricketer' during his playing days.

Asked what he had meant by the word 'nasty', he said, "Everything. There is nothing to elaborate. You know this, I know this as well. The way the media writes is nasty. Our media is one big obstacle to the development of cricket. Media now very much depends on wild guesses, things have got very fishy. So many rumours, and so much negativity in some places."

Players, experts and fans have mostly lauded the role of the media in Bangladesh's journey forward. But cannot responsible figures like Mahmud digest criticism after losing two series on the home turf?