Mahela Jayawardene shortlisted for BCB’s HP coach

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is eyeing former Sri Lankan cricketer Mahela Jayawardene for the role of batting consultant for the High Performance unit. The Board is looking to exploit Mahela’s exhaustive knowledge about the game to groom its players for the international arena. Counting on his coaching experience too, he is the perfect candidate for the post, the Board thinks.

Mahela has donned the coaching hat after his retirement to channelize his experience to the future generation. He took the role of batting consultant in 2015 for the England side to prepare them for the T20 World Cup in 2016. It was a successful stint as England reached the finals of the tournament, but were beaten by the T20 specialists, West Indies.

The explosive batsman forayed into league coaching when he was selected as the head coach of the IPL side Mumbai Indians in 2017. He tasted success as a debut coach for the side, guiding them to a historic third title. The success worked wonders for him and opened up avenues for more coaching stints. Mahela was picked up as the head coach just after the IPL by BPL T20 side Khulna Titans for two seasons 2017-2018.

Confirms availability

He confirmed his availability for the role which would mark his second stint as the coach for a premier league side. The Sri Lankan has been playing major T20 leagues around the world and so BCB is in talks about his availability for the HP squad. The Board has also kept other options open in its hunt for top notch coaches from all over the world for the posts of bowling and batting consultant.

The BCB has set its goals high to take Bangladesh Cricket to new heights and prove to the world that their players have come of age to be a world-class team capable of beating the heavy-weights. With the help from the national selection panel, the Board has proposed the HP unit which will consist of experienced players as well as talented young cricketers. This unit will have 24 players in all. This bunch of players will serve as a reserve arsenal for the home series against Australia and South Africa later this year.

The HP squad will release only 4 players to join the national camp beginning on July 10. The rest of the players will be a part of Bangladesh A team which will tour the Australian and England shores to hone themselves for the 2019 World Cup. The Board has also hired Australian coach Simon Helmot for a period of three years as head coach for the HP unit to boost up the coaching team.