Phil Simmons, former West Indies cricketer, has been announced as the interim head coach for Bangladesh cricket team. The development comes after Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) suspended Chandika Hathurusinghe as the head coach of the men’s national team with immediate effect. Hathurusinghe has reportedly been suspened due to inappropriate conduct during the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in India last year.
An investigation was launched by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) after a player accused Hathurusinghe of slapping him during the marquee ICC event held last year. With Hathurusinghe’s contract suspended with immediate effect, Simmons, who has been named as an interim coach, will be with the Bangladesh team at least till the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 scheduled to happen in February.
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“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.”
Not The Best Of Stint As Head Coach For Chandika Hathurusinghe
It wasn’t the best of stints as the head coach of Bangladesh for Chandika Hathurusinghe whose tenure saw Bangladesh suffer failured at the 2023 ODI World Cup as well as the T20 World Cup 2024. During his first tenure as the head coach, Hathurusinghe had managed to take Bangladesh cricket forward during 2014-17 with results to show to his name. Bangladesh were impressive in the 2017 Champions Trophy, a performance which was good enough for them to secure a place in the 2019 ODI World Cup.
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Having said that, it was during his stint as the head coach of the Bangaldesh team that Pakistan managed to complete a historic 2-0 clean sweep over Pakistan in Tests. His exit from the Pakistan setup comes at a critical juncture for the team who will be looking to rebuild.
Simmons, the man who has replaced Hathurusinghe, has previously had coaching stints with Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and West Indies.
