This time, Hathuru won’t see me anywhere: Nazmul Hassan

The first reason is that we will get Hathuru for the entire time. None of the other good coaches would stay with us without interruptions. We would have to let them go for various franchise leagues. Many of our preferred candidates were also tied down in their current contracts till 2024. They can’t come before 2024. But we have a World Cup coming up. We need a coach right now.

Another big reason is that Hathurusingha already knows about us. He knows our boys. Whenever an overseas coach arrives, we have to hear questions like, ‘Why is this like this’, ‘Why is that like that’. With Hathuru, this problem won’t happen. He knows everything about us. Barring a couple or so new players, he also knows the cricketers really well. The two players he gave the most number of chances in his first term were Liton (Das) and Soumya (Sarkar). Liton is now already a permanent figure in the team. Soumya, however, is nowhere near the team. Other than them, he will see Shanto (Najmul Hossain), Towhid Hridoy and Zakir (Hasan) for the first time. The rest have been here since his first tenure.

Yes, I have also spoken with many of the players. Especially with the senior players. Now, Liton and Miraz (Mehidy Hasan) are also seniors. I sent them a list of coaches. Almost everyone chose Hathurusingha. One or two players, however, said, ‘Pick whoever you feel is the right guy’. A while ago, when we were going through a really rough period, even Mashrafe (Bin Mortaza) told me, ‘Bring Hathuru back’, which surprised me a bit because I thought he has a tiff with Hathuru. Even Tamim (Iqbal) said, ‘Bring Hathuru back’.

He is very good at singling out the weaknesses of the opponents. He is also very good at planning. Who will bat at which No, who will bowl when, what the field placing would be– he decides everything. Before him, I don’t think any other coach did this. But now, our current captains are really mature, maybe now these things won’t happen. They will definitely give their opinions and debate the coach.

No, I didn’t. After he left I had no further contact with him. I didn’t even say, ‘hello’ to him. I keep contact with the coaches who have worked with the Bangladesh team in the past. Just a while back, I spoke with Russell (Domingo) after he sent a text. Last time, I also had a feeling that Hathuru could leave us anytime even before he quit. There were some incidents in the team as well.

No. The selectors will announce a 15-16 member team and the captain will fix the playing XI. When Hathuru was here last time, he used to fix that. Since he left, the captain is doing it. When Russell Domingo or (Sridharan) Sriram was here, Shakib (Al Hasan) was fixing the XI. If Tamim says that this is my team, then how can we change it? I’m telling you, our current captains are really matured.

Not at all. The three selectors will select the squad. Before naming the squad, however, they would definitely speak with the coach and captain. In the squad named for the first two ODIs against England, Nasum (Ahmed) was supposed to be there. After his name wasn’t included, I asked why is Nasum missing. I was told that the captain wanted Taijul (Islam). That’s fine, he is within his rights to make such demands.

A 100 per cent.

Honestly speaking, I used to do it in the past. Since becoming the president this time around, I haven’t done so. Once or twice I have directly been involved, which wasn’t the right thing to do. In Hathuru’s last term, he used to send me a team and the selectors also used to send me a team. I would discuss both with them. Yes, twice I have taken the decision by myself. In the 2018 Asia Cup, without speaking with the selectors or anyone else, I told them to send Imrul (Kayes) and Soumya (Sarkar) (They were sent as backup players). Another case was Mustafizur (Rahman). Hathuru apparently saw him bowl 11 balls and said, “I want him in the team”. Faruk (Ahmed) was the chief selector at the time. He said, “I won’t allow it, no chance.” I didn’t even know who Mustafiz was. Still, I accepted Hathuru’s demand and told them to pick Mustafiz.

This time, he won’t see me anywhere. I have divided the duties. Everyone is responsible for their own department. They will only inform me when there is a problem. I don’t want to be involved with everything like I was in the past. Didn’t you see, in this year’s BPL I only went to see the final match. This time, Hathuru won’t see me anywhere.