Hashan Tillakaratne steps down as head coach of Bangladesh Women

Bangladesh Women's team’s Head Coach, Hashan Tillakaratne has stepped down from his position. After Bangladesh returned to tour West Indies, Hashan conveyed his decision to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). The move comes after Bangladesh lost the T20I series by 3-0 and ODIs by 2-1 in their unsuccessful Caribbean tour. 

It is worth noting that, the former Sri Lanka men’s cricketer was appointed as the Head Coach in October 2022. He was on a two-year contract and his stint was supposed to end in 2024. But his stay was extended with another one-year contract with the West Indies tour being his last dance as the Bangladesh coach. According to Cricbuzz, Habibul Bashar, BCB women's wing in-charge confirmed the news on February 5. 

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"During the tour of West Indies he informed us that he is not willing to continue anymore," said Bashar. 

Bangladesh will fight in qualifiers for a spot in ICC event

Though the team has success in the bilateral series, the same is not replicated at the global level. Under Hashan, they played two T20 World Cups and won just one game which dented the Sri Lankan’s prospects of continuing ahead. Moreover, BCB was also keen to appoint a local coach to oversee the progress and this makes Women's U-19 head coach Sarowar Imran the front-runner.

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Bangladesh’s loss to West Indies has also impacted their direct qualification for the upcoming ODI World Cup 2025. The team has joined West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland, Scotland and Thailand to fight in qualifiers for a World Cup berth. Teams who have directly qualified are India, New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa and Sri Lanka. It is worth noting that, out of six teams playing qualifiers, only two will see themselves in the main event.