Hathurusingha came, saw and messed up, again

Second chances are hard to come by in life, ask anyone, they’ll tell you. It’s even harder to come by in the professional world, especially if a person leaves a job under bad terms.
So, imagine a person leaves a job years before his contract is up, does not show any proper cause for resignation and does not even bother to tender in his resignation in person. By all logic, the door to that job should forever be shut for him, right?
Not if the employee is Chandika Hathurusingha and the employers are the benevolent Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
Hathurusingha ended his first tenure as the Bangladesh head coach in 2017, right after a disastrous South Africa tour. He did not return to Bangladesh after the tour, instead flew straight to Australia, emailed his resignation and a few months later, took over as the Sri Lanka head coach.
Even after such an ugly exit, Hathurusingha was brought back by the BCB in January of 2023, making him the first coach to get a second stint as Bangladesh head coach.
The manner of Hathurusingha’s exit also encapsulated how he ran the team during his first stint.
After joining as head coach in late 2014, he ruled the team with an iron fist, earning a reputation as a strict headmaster; a shrewd tactician who knew how to maximise his limited resources but was not adept at handling egos and managing people.
In his second stint, hopes were that a more mature Hathurusingha will handle the dressing room better, but as it turned out, time had done little to blunt his rough edges.
Yesterday, BCB president Faruque Ahmed announced that Hathurusingha has been suspended as head coach for taking more leaves than his contract permitted and for allegedly ‘assaulting’ a player during last year’s ODI World Cup.
Hathurusingha has refuted the ‘assault’ allegation and chances are the debate regarding it will run for a long time. But one thing that is not up for debate is that the Bangladesh camp was far from a happy bunch during his tenure.
Tamim Iqbal’s shock retirement last year, followed by a prompt retraction of retirement; Tamim getting left out of the World Cup squad and then the ugly mudslinging between Tamim and Shakib Al Hasan, who succeeded the former as captain, happened while Hathurusingha was in charge.
In his first tenure, Hathurusingha in a way made up for his rigid attitude with bold tactics. But this time, the boldness was missing. The once sharp tactician had turned into a meek coach, trying to do the bare minimum to safeguard his job.
This approach became apparent when he said anything they get is bonus after qualifying for Super Eights in this year’s T20 World Cup. And true to his word, when a chance arrived to qualify for the semifinal by chasing down 116 in 12.1 overs against Afghanistan, his team attempted to achieve a meaningless win instead.
In any top cricket country, the coach would probably lose his job after such an insipid approach. Thankfully for Hathurusingha, he was employed in Bangladesh.
It would be unfair to say Bangladesh did terribly under Hathurusingha in his second term. The Tigers won and lost five Tests each; won 13 ODIs against 19 losses and three no results; and won 19 T20Is against 15 losses and one no result.
But Bangladesh’s approach in the ODI World Cup, the T20 World Cup and in the recently-concluded India tour, where they lost in all five games, showed signs of regression and signified how far off the Tigers are compared to the top sides.
But according to BCB boss Faruque Ahmed, it was not the performance of the team but his cavalier attitude that cost Hathurusingha his job.
In a way, the BCB got even with this termination for Hathurusingha’s previous resignation. Logic dictates that there should not be a third round of this fiasco, but in Bangladesh cricket, hardly anything follows logic.