Bangladesh suspends head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe on disciplinary grounds

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe has been suspended on disciplinary grounds by the country's cricket board. Hathurusinghe will stay suspended for 48 hours before being terminated immediately.

The development reported by cricket news website ESPNCricinfo also mentioned that Phil Simmons will take over as Bangladesh's interim head coach till the ICC Champions Trophy next year in Feb-March.

This was Hathurusinghe's second stint with Bangladesh as head coach. He came back for his second stint in February last year and the team delivered underwhelming performances in both ODI World Cup 2023 and T20 World Cup 2024.

His second appointment was also questioned by current Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Faruque Ahmed at the time. Ahmed also mentioned that 'Hathurusinghe has two counts of misconduct.'

"First is about an assault on a player. Secondly, he took too many leaves, more than what was in his contract," said Ahmed

"There was a misconduct with a player, and misconduct as an employee. He also spent more than three months [on leave], that is also a large part of his misconduct. He informed us in a scattered way, in one or two emails, that he has to go home. It can't be for more than three months. Even as a board president, I cannot do what I want. I am guided by some rules. It is the norm. So there was a serious breach in that regard," he added.

Under Hathurusinghe, Bangladesh's best achievement was beating Pakistan 2-0 in the two-Test series away from home - it was their first win against Pakistan in Tests and the first away win in the format in 15 years.

The fairytale, however, was short-lived as they lost the India Test series soon after by the same margin of 2-0 with 3-0 in the T20Is that followed.