Hathurusingha suspended as Tigers' coach

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said on Tuesday it had suspended head coach Chandika Hathurusingha for misconduct including an alleged assault of a player, report agencies.

Trinidadian former all-rounder Phil Simmons has been appointed stand-in coach and will take the team up until the ICC Champions Trophy, set for Pakistan in February 2025.

"You can't assault a national player physically," BCB president Faruque Ahmed said in announcing Hathurusingha's suspension, without giving details of the alleged incident.

"Hathurusinghe has two counts of misconduct," BCB president Faruque Ahmed said. "First is about an assault on a player. Secondly, he took too many leaves, more than what was in his contract."

There was no immediate response from Hathurusingha.

The 56-year-old former Sri Lanka batsman was hired in 2023 for a second time as head coach, after a largely successful tenure with the side between 2014 and 2017.

The suspension follows Bangladesh's tour of India, where they lost both Tests and all three T20s.

Bangladesh next play South Africa at home, with the first of two Tests starting on October 21.

They travel to the United Arab Emirates for three ODIs against Afghanistan starting November 6.

Hathurusinghe returned for his second stint as Bangladesh coach in February last year. In August this year, shortly after Ahmed was appointed as board president, he had said that Hathurusinghe should no longer continue as Bangladesh's head coach.

During his first tenure, Hathurasingha stood down from the role of head coach himself. This time, the 56-year-old coach lost the job with five months remaining on his two-year contract.

There were regular questions about Hathurasingha's future after Faruque - a staunch and regular critic of the coach - took over as BCB president in August. He has expressed that idea many times. A few days before taking charge, he said in an interview on the 'Not Out Noman' YouTube channel that he did not see any reason to keep Hathrusingha as the coach.

Since assuming the role, Faruque has faced repeated questions about the decision over the past two months. It has now been made.

Hathurusingha was first appointed the coach of the Bangladesh team in June 2014. His two-year tenure was later extended until the 2019 ODI World Cup. Under his coaching, Bangladesh achieved incredible success in ODIs, including the quarter-final game of the 2015 ODI World Cup, and some memorable victories in Tests as well.

But Hathurasingha was no stranger to controversy during his first term. There were various complaints against him, especially regarding strained relations with cricketers and a deteriorating atmosphere in the dressing room. Later, in October 2017, he resigned in the middle of a tour of South Africa.

The former all-rounder then took charge of the Sri Lankan national team. But there too, amid various tensions and controversies, he was dismissed in the middle of a three-year contract. He went on to coach domestic cricket in Australia.

On January 31 last year, the BCB said that Hathurusingha was returning as the head coach and began working on a two-year contract from February last year. He is not seeing out this contract either.

Bangladesh has played 10 Tests, 35 ODIs and 35 T20Is during his second tenure as head coach. In Tests the team's record shows five wins and five losses. Along with the expected wins against Ireland and Afghanistan, Bangladesh pulled off a grand victory against New Zealand in Sylhet and a historic series win in Pakistan. On the other hand, they also suffered a bad loss to Sri Lanka and an embarrassing defeat to India only a few days ago.

In ODIs, the team's record saw 13 wins, 19 losses, and three abandoned matches. Bangladesh went into the last ODI World Cup back with high hopes only to stumble in disappointing fashion. The T20I record included 19 wins and 15 losses, with one match abandoned. The team also disappointed in this format in the previous World Cup.