It is important that I keep the noise away from players: Russell Domingo

Bangladesh have got off to a winning start in the ongoing limited-overs series against Afghanistan as they got the better of them in the first ODI at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on February 23 by four wickets. It was a clinical performance from the hosts that helped them draw first blood in the three-match series. Ahead of the second ODI, head coach Russell Domingo has made it clear that he is working really hard to ensure that the players are not getting affected by the external rumors of him not getting along with the team.

At the same time, Domingo has mentioned that he is comfortable working with former Bangladesh medium pacer and current team director Khaled Mahmud. The coach also added that he is focusing on the task at hand and is not interested to buy into the opinion of former skipper Mashrafe Mortaza who is no longer a part of the setup.

If I weren’t a confident coach, I wouldn’t be coaching an international team: Russell Domingo

“You must ask the BCB. If I weren’t a confident coach, I wouldn’t be coaching an international team. Whatever the media or public say, for me, I don’t wanna sound rude, but it is not that important. You can write what you want about me and the players, it is important that I keep that noise away from the players. If I get affected by it, I can’t expect my players to not be affected by it,” said Domingo as quoted by Cricbuzz.

“For me, the team director (Khaled Mahmud) is very much a link between me and the board members to communicate what’s happening, communicate what we are thinking about selection. I got enough on my plate to talk to directors about what the line-up is going to be, what the toss is going to do. I don’t want to be focusing on that. Great to have Chacha (Mahmud) there as he can feed all that information and take the stress away from me,” he added.

“Has Mash (Mashrafe Mortaza) retired yet? To be honest, I am not interested in players that are not part of the squad at the moment. As I said, noise from outside – what people say or write – are not that important in my life. My focus is on my team, my family and my job. Not too much else,” he further added.

Having bowled Afghanistan out for just 215, the visitors were in trouble after being reduced to 45/6 in the 12th over before the middle-order duo of Mehidy Hasan and Atif Hossain added an unbeaten 174-run stand for the seventh wicket as Bangladesh got home in the final over. Hasan scored 81 while Hossain was not out on 93. The second ODI will be played at the same venue on February 25.