The BCB's philosophical paradox
"Every individual has their own philosophy and Domingo's policies may not suit our brand of cricket. To be honest, talk is cheap because we are unable to perform in T20 format."
Three years after appointing Russell Domingo as head coach and one year since handing him a contract till 2023, the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB's) abrupt realisation that the South African's philosophy does "not suit the Bangladeshi brand of cricket" certainly raised a lot of questions.
One day after officially announcing Sridhar Sriram as technical consultant for the T20I and with Domingo's future hinging on an upcoming meeting with board president Nazmul Hassan Papon on August 22, team director Khaled Mahmud observed the finer points of philosophy yesterday.
"Every individual has their own philosophy and Domingo's policies may not suit our brand of cricket. To be honest, talk is cheap because we are unable to perform in T20 format," Mahmud told media yesterday.
The former Bangladesh captain and incumbent board director also hinted that the BCB were thinking of making drastic changes in the Test and ODI formats as well, which means that time may be running out for Domingo.
"What's wrong with having a different philosophy? If it works well for the country, then we must adopt it. We decided to come out of this starting with the Asia Cup, let's see how it goes. I think we can do a lot of experiments in this format [T20s] which we can't in ODIs," he added.
Questions still remain, such as whether the board had a philosophy for appointing Domingo as head coach in 2019. And if the BCB was unsatisfied, why did they extend his contract last year?
It was learned that some board members were unhappy with Domingo's inability to provide a long-term plan despite being asked for one repeatedly. According to sources, the board had asked for a plan till April next year with the new Future Tour Programme in mind, but the 47-year-old has not yet provided any feedback.
"As the BCB president said, we are going to sit with Domingo and the members of the coaching panel on August 22 and will find out about all their roles," BCB's media commitee chairman Jalal Yunus told The Daily Star yesterday.
There are rumours that Domingo may not continue as Bangladesh's head coach after the upcoming home series against India in November this year and it was also learned that he may not be part of the Tigers' Asia Cup campaign in the UAE later this month.
Meanwhile, Jamie Siddons -- who was appointed as the batting coach in February -- is also under the scanner after dismal batting performances across the formats since he assumed the role.
Despite that, it was learned that the Australian is also interested to become the head coach of the Tigers in the T20 format as the board aims to make wholesale changes in order to instill a fearless attitude into the team in the shortest format of the game.
But amid all the chopping and changing and the BCB beating their drums about ending all the problems plaguing Bangladesh cricket overnight, the question remains whether it is only the philosophy of the coaches that is to blame. The board must also know what their philosophy actually is.