Former Sri Lankan all-rounder Upul Chandika Hathurusinghe has been appointed head coach of Bangladesh Cricket team for next two years.
Hathurusinghe likely to arrive in Bangladesh on June 10 ahead of the Tigers’ three-match ODI home series against World champions India beginning on June 15, BCB media manager Rabeed Imam confirmed this on Monday.
This will be his assignment as the head coach of a national team.
Hathurusinghe left his post as assistant coach of the New South Wales and also as coach of the Sydney Thunder Twenty20 team to take up the head coaching role with the Bangladesh Cricket team.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) communicated with Hathurusinghe and other two candidates after the Tiger’s former head coach Shane Jurgensen’s resignation.
Bangladesh had been contemplating on Shane Jurgensen’s performance as coach when he had submitted his resignation after the World T20. With a series against India scheduled in June, the BCB had been in talks with Hathurusingha along with the two other candidates.
The 45-year-old Sri Lankan, who took charge of the Thunder last season, has been offered the chance to coach at full international level by the BCB, after previously being an assistant coach of the Sri Lankan side.
Hathurusingha has experience at the helm of both New South Wales, in the latter half of the 2012-13 season, and Sydney Thunder. New South Wales won the Sheffield Shield in March, their first domestic title since 2008. They reached the final of the Ryobi Cup as well, but lost to Queensland.
However, the performance of the Sydney Thunder team remained lacklustre in the Big Bash League.
Hathurusinghe had expressed his interest towards a role with Sri Lanka, who is also looking for a new head coach after Paul Farbrace agreed to become England’s assistant coach. His tactical acumen was highly prized during his tenure as shadow coach but a disciplinary issue had terminated his association with the side in 2010.
Kumar Sangakkara, then captain of the side, fought against the decision and said Hathurusingha’s ‘technical and strategic knowledge was second to none of the foreign coaches I have worked with before’ and that in the previous year, Hathurusinghe had “out-worked, out-thought and out-shone the foreign coaching staff within the system.”
Upul Chandika Hathurusinghe played 26 Test matches and scored 1274 runs with an average of 29.62 while in 35 ODI’s he scored 669 runs with an average of 20.90 runs. In his five T20 career, he managed to cash 137 runs with an average of 45.66 runs.
As a bowler, he claimed 17 Test wickets conceding 789 runs with an average of 46.41 runs while in ODI, he captured 14 wickets with an average of 50.64 of runs and in the T20 cricket, he grabbed 3 wickets for 85 runs with an average of 28.33 runs.
Source: UNB Connect
