Bangladesh terminates Hathurusinghe as Bangladesh head coach

DHAKA (Agencies): Two days after suspending Chandika Hathurusinghe, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday terminated him as Bangladesh’s head coach. The sacking came on the grounds of misconduct and breach of employment terms. BCB president Faruque Ahmed said on Tuesday that Hathurusinghe assaulted a Bangladesh cricketer and took more leaves than mentioned in his contract. The board had served him a show-cause notice, seeking an explanation on the two counts of misconduct. Hathurusinghe responded on the following day, which prompted an emergency board meeting to review the situation on Thursday. “After considering all factors, the board deemed Hathurusinghe’s explanation unsatisfactory and unacceptable and found his action consistent with misconduct and dereliction of duty,” a BCB release said. “His termination comes into immediate effect.” This ends Hathurusinghe’s second stint as Bangladesh coach, even though his contract was till January 2023. This stint included the milestone Test series win in Pakistan recently. However, the two World Cup campaigns, the ODI one in 2023 and the T20 one in 2024 were underwhelming. Phil Simmons has already been appointed the next head coach till the Champions Trophy in February 2025.