Former South African Test opener Gary Kirsten met with local cricket coach Mohammad Salahuddin in the city’s local hotel on Tuesday.
Salahuddin is one of the leading local coach, who had a stint for Bangladesh as an assistant coach, also hogged headlines having domestic successes, including a BPL title with underdogs Comilla Victorians in 2015.
Surprisingly Salahuddin left in the wilderness, for the first is being attached in any senior team’s matters. He said Kirsten asked him about the game in Bangladesh in general, and a little about Salahuddin himself.
“It was a pleasant experience meeting him but I don’t think he was meeting me as a coach. He was more of an administrator during our meeting,” Salahuddin told the reporters at the city’s local hotel.
“He had told me to come here today. He asked about Bangladesh cricket, our cricketers and he also asked about me.”
The meeting was significant as it suggests that Kirsten is looking for a local coach to be involved in the set-up; once he is done with his findings, Kirsten is expected to provide his recommendations for the appointment of a full-time Bangladesh head coach.
Kirsten, who arrived on Sunday night in the city, also had sessions with Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman and the national selectors on the second day of his facts finding episode.
More than the domestic trophies his teams have won, Salahuddin’s is popular among the leading local players who at times act as their mentors. Shakib Al Hasan is one of many Bangladesh cricketers who regularly take inputs from Salahuddin on technical and mental aspects.
Once, during an IPL, Shakib returned to Dhaka to work on his batting for two days with Salahuddin. Last year, Mominul Haque took batting sessions with Salahuddin to deal with his struggles against off-spin.
It has long been considered among local pundits that Salahuddin is essential in the Bangladesh senior team’s coaching set-up. Last year, the BCB asked Salahuddin to join as a batting consultant but later without unknown reason he was not given the job.
Bangladesh Cricket Board Chief Executive Officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury day before yesterday has asked Gary Kirsten to do his own fact finding mission and stay here till a new head coach is selected.
The BCB CEO said, Gary Kirsten have been asked to do his own internal audit of the Bangladesh team and provide his assessment to the cricket board about how the team can improve looking ahead to ICC competitions like the World Cup and World T20.
He also added that he is also working with us on coach recruitment. Kirsten will be asked to give his view to BCB’s shortlisted some coaches and hope Kirsten may provide some names.
