Bangladesh extended Chandika Hathurusingha's contract till 2019

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had extended the contract of their head coach Chandika Hathurusingha until 2019. The decision was made at a meeting of the board members on Sunday.

The 47-year old had been coaching the side since July 2014 and Bangladesh had a great time, especially in the limited overs format. The young team progressed into the quarter-finals for the first time in World Cup history in 2015.

One of the main decisions in the meeting was that the former Sri Lankan player will also be a part of the six-man selection committee. The six-man committee consists of Khaled Mahmud, who is the former Bangladesh player and current Bangladesh team manager, BCB’s cricket operations committee chairman, Akram Khan. Ruwan Kalpage, Richard Halsall, and Mario Villavarayan have also been retained as the assistant coach, fielding coach and fitness and conditioning coach respectively.

The BCB has also changed the way the team is selected. The national squad will be picked by a three-man team headed by Faruque Ahmed. The selected squad will be forwarded to the six-man selection committee before being submitted to the BCB President, Nazmul Hassan.

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“We have only legalized the current process. The cricket operations committee chairman will call the meeting with the selectors, coach, and manager. The coach will give his strategic input if he has any. The manager will give his and the captain’s input,” Hassan explained.

Habibul Bashar has been given the responsibility of selecting the women’s teams for Bangladesh, who was a part of the three-man selection panel under Faruque. Former cricketer Sajjad Ahmed fills the vacancy of Habibul Basher. Few other former cricketers like, Hasibul Hossain and Hannan Sarkar have been named as junior selectors.