Amidst the multifaceted chaos surrounding Bangladesh cricket, newly-appointed head coach Phil Simmons wants the team to turn their focus to cricket.
Two days ago, demonstrators gathered outside the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) headquarters, criticising Shakib Al Hasan for his role in the recent uprising against the former government. This was followed by another group of Shakib supporters, demanding he be allowed to play.
With the tension lingering in Mirpur, where Bangladesh is set to face South Africa in the first Test of a two-match series on October 21, Simmons said they are not bothered about what is happening outside cricket.
Simmons took over as Bangladesh's head coach just a couple of days ago, after the board suspended former coach Chandika Hathurusingha, who was accused of assaulting a national team player—a charge he denied.
New Bangladesh cricket coach Phil Simmons arrives in Dhaka
However, Simmons eyes to move on passing all these behind and focus on cricket, as he said in his first press meet on Saturday at BCB.
“We have to try to leave out the confusion around the cricket and concentrate on preparing for Monday,” he said, referring to the opening day of the first Test between Bangladesh and South Africa.
Simmon took on one of the toughest jobs in the cricket world—being the head coach of the Bangladesh team. He knows that, but he said coaching an international team is always tough. He also accepted the fact that “Bangladesh is different.”
The Caribbean coach has experience coaching in Afghanistan, from where, he said, he learnt how to communicate with the players despite having some language barriers. He was also a coach for the Ireland side. Simmons believes the experience of those jobs will help him to do well in Bangladesh too.
South Africa’s Test series win came in the subcontinent more than a decade ago, inspiring Bangladesh ahead of the series. Bangladesh’s coach said it’s a good opportunity for Bangladesh to beat South Africa.
“It is a good opportunity. Bangladesh are usually a strong side at home. So it is a very good opportunity for us to win the Test series,” Simmons said, noting that South Africa is also a resilient side.
Before this series, Bangladesh played 14 Tests against South Africa and failed to win any of them. They have just two draws against the Proteas.