Domingo is different, says Akram Khan

Chairman of the cricket operation of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Akram Khan on Saturday reckoned that newly-appointed head coach Russell Domingo is very different from other coaches who worked for Bangladesh. 

After BCB parted ways with Steve Rhodes following the dismal performance in the World Cup, BCB appointed Domingo for a two-year initial contract which is extendable.

“I’ve seen many coaches when I was a player. After that, I’ve worked with many more coaches as a board director of BCB and as a cricket operation chairman. Relying on my vast experience of working with the coaches, I can tell you that Domingo is different from others,” Akram told the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. 

Akram explained that Domingo is thinking about the batsmen who are capable of doing well at home and who can do better abroad. “This is just one thing about his coaching philosophy. He’s thinking more about the development of Bangladesh cricket as well. He was eager to hear from the selectors and captain. He’s trying to take Bangladesh to the next level,” Akram said.

Domingo took over the charge of the national team as the head coach on August 21. After getting some initial idea of the national team set-up, Domingo had a meeting with national Test and T20I captain Shakib Al Hasan and the cricket operation chairman.

“We’ve made some big changes to our coaching staff. So we needed to conduct a meeting. We’ve talked about the new set-up and the upcoming tours and series. We’ll continue conducting this sort of meeting in future as well,” Akram added. 

Akram said Bangladesh team has been doing well at home for a long time now but they are yet to find a similar success abroad. So sorting out a clear plan to embrace the positive results abroad was one of the main affairs to talk about in the meeting. 

Bangladesh are now preparing to start their new home season with a one-off Test against Afghanistan which is set to be played in Chattogram from September 5. Following that, the Tigers will take part in a tri-series T20 also involving Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.