After Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, five members of the coaching staff have opted out from the upcoming tour to Pakistan later this month. Neil McKenzie, the white-ball batting coach alongside fielding coach Ryan Cook have withdrawn, said Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) cricket operations chairman Akram Khan to ESPNcricinfo.
Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, who is currently working as a spin consultant, has also not been called up for the series. Alongside him, team analyst Shrinivas Chandrasekaran will not tour to Pakistan for being an Indian citizen.
“(Strength and conditioning coach) Mario (Villavarayan) broke his hand recently while team analyst (Chandrasekaran) will be working with the team over Skype. McKenzie and fielding coach (Cook) will also not be going, while we haven’t yet confirmed on our new bowling coach,” Akram said.
However, for this series, head coach Russell Domingo will get the service of physio Julian Calefato among the regular staff whereas Sohel Islam (fielding coach) and Tushar Kanti Howlader (strength and conditioning coach) will be there as support.
Bangladesh will play three T20Is, two Tests and an ODI in Pakistan which will begin in January. The T20I series will be played from January 24 to 27 and after that, the first Test will take place from February 7 to 11. Bangladesh will again tour Pakistan in April for the one-off ODI which will take place on April 3 and the second Test will be played from April 5-9.
Most recently, Mushfiqur Rahim withdrawn his name due to security reasons. He has also officially informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the board also accepted his request as well.
Mushfiqur said to the media on Friday, “I have already informed Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) that I am not going to Pakistan for the upcoming series. I have submitted an official letter, and BCB accepted that. Not just T20Is, I am unavailable for the entire series.”
He further continued, “My family is afraid of the security condition of Pakistan. In this situation, I can’t go to Pakistan and play cricket there. It is always tough for me to sit down from a series of Bangladesh national team. My family is not permitting me to go to Pakistan. Cricket is not bigger than life.”