Bangladesh national cricket team’s coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said on Thursday he is looking forward to the challenge in West Indies without being too much concerned about how his charges had fared in recent international matches. Bangladesh failed to win a one-day international and Test in 2014, making the year one of the worst in their recent history.
‘Losing is part of the game so everything that happened is in the past,’ said Hathurusinghe. ‘We try to focus on the future and have a fresh start.
‘I think they are in a good mental state. We are getting performance coach [psychologist] coming here for two days on August 3 and 4. We are getting all the help that we need.’
Hathurusinghe said he was happy with the progress the players made in training for the last few days.
‘It is all about developing skill level, which we did in the last few weeks,’ he said.
‘We were focusing on basic skills – to improve and understand, especially the batters work in their own game, finding out what they do best – watching videos and identifying areas to improve.
‘Bowlers are also working on individual skills, stock ball, variations and stuff like that.
‘We haven’t gone into the analysing part, so when we come back after Eid, we will probably work on specific game planning.
‘I am happy how things have gone in the last few weeks. The next phase is to play a few games,’ he said.
The absence of bowling coach Heath Streak did not hamper the training, said the Sri Lankan.
‘He is coming back and communicating with us,’ Hathurusinghe said of Zimbabwean Streak.
‘He is coming back on July 31 to join the next phase of training.
‘We are following his guideline with the fast bowlers. He has number of days he can train with us, and he has few things to sort out at home. Afterwards, he will be with us for long time.’
Hathurusinghe admitted he will miss suspended Sakib al Hasan in the side, but insisted this is the reality that the team has to face.
‘Any team will miss player of that calibre. What can we do? That is the reality we have to face. So we are looking forward,’ he said.
The BCB suspended Sakib for six months for what it said a ‘severe attitude problem’ that was evident when the all-rounder threatened to quit international cricket after Hathurusinghe told him to cut short his Caribbean Premier League mission.
Sakib was eventually called back home from London where he made a stopover on his way to West Indies.
-With New Age input
