The Bangladesh Cricket Board has suspended the national team's head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe on "two counts of misconduct". Phil Simmons will take charge as head coach in an interim role till the 2025 Champions Trophy, according to multiple reports. (More Cricket News)
Hathurusinghe has been suspended for 48 hours and will be "terminated immediately" post that, as per an ESPNcricinfo report. He has also been served a show-cause notice by BCB. "Hathurusinghe has two counts of misconduct. First is about an assault on a player. Secondly, he took too many leaves, more than what was in his contract," the report quoted BCB president Faruque Ahmed as saying.
Hathurasinghe's departure follows a disappointing end to his short second stint as Bangladesh head coach, with the underwhelming performances at the 2023 ODI World Cup and the 2024 T20 World Cup being the major bones of contention. He had taken over the reins in February 2023, and in August 2024, Ahmed had said that Hathurusinghe should not continue as Bangladesh's coach.
The 56-year-old's best achievement during this term was Bangladesh's 2-0 Test series win over Pakistan. It was their first-ever win in Pakistan, and their maiden overseas Test series win in 15 years. But in the India tour that followed, the Bangla Tigers lost 2-0 in the Tests and 3-0 in the T20Is, including a record loss in the third game.
As for Simmons, his recent stint in the coaching setup was with his native West Indies side, whom he mentored from 2019 till the end of the Australian tour in 2024. His first assignment will be the two-match Test series at home against South Africa in October.
