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Khaled Mahmud has expressed his remorse for accepting
the position of Bangladesh team director for the World Cup after learning he
wouldn’t be able to offer any cricketing or technical advice throughout the
competition.
Mahmud stated that his current responsibilities are
restricted to travelling with the team and upholding discipline. Prior to the
World Cup, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) named S Sriram as a technical
consultant, which raised questions about Mahmud’s role. It meant that the squad
had three heads in Mahmud, head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, and Sriram, who
led Bangladesh to victory in the 2022 T20 World Cup, in addition to the five
specialist coaches.
Earlier in Dharamsala, Hathurusinghe had said he was
fine with the make-up of the management, but Mahmud felt differently three
weeks later in Delhi.
“I am performing only the role assigned to me by
the BCB,” Mahmud said. “I don’t have the decision-making role as I
have had in previous tours as a selector. Previously, I tried to keep myself
involved with the team. This time, I don’t have a cricketing role. Firstly, I
don’t want to be in this role like this. I have cricket in my blood. Coaching
is my profession. But I am not involved with coaching with the Bangladesh team.
“I had a technical role even at the last World
Cup when I could speak to players. But this time, I am keeping myself away. I
am definitely not enjoying this role as the head of the delegation. I am just
roaming around, playing the role as a guardian to the players. I am taking care
of discipline, but this is not really my work. If I knew this was my role, I
wouldn’t have come to the World Cup.”
Mahmud implied that Bangladesh’s preparation for the
World Cup was inadequate by citing their series against New Zealand at Dhaka
(Mirpur). After playing the majority of their One-Day Internationals (ODIs) in
Chattogram and Sylhet in 2022 and 2023 to acclimatise to favourable batting
conditions, Bangladesh moved to Mirpur shortly before the World Cup.
“I don’t know what I was thinking when I said
before the World Cup that we’d play the semi-final,” Mahmud said.
“Maybe I had seen the boys’ body language and playing style. I honestly
thought they would do well in Indian conditions. I had great expectations. But
I am feeling very bad that we just don’t have a fighting mentality.