Bangladesh hopeful of roping in Aaqib Javed as the team's new bowling coach

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan Papon has revealed that they have shortlisted Aaqib Javed and a few other unnamed candidates for the vacant post of Bangladesh's bowling coach, but is hopeful of hearing a positive response from the former Pakistan fast bowler, the Daily Star reports.

BCB have been on the lookout for a replacement for Heath Streak, the former Zimbabwe skipper who opted not to renew his contract with the BCB last month and have now zeroed in on Aaqib, who himself became available only recently after stepping down as coach of the UAE in April.

“We have contacted Aaqib Javed,” said Papon. “We will get to know a decision from him in a day or two. It may be a yes or a no. Aside from him, we have also made an alternative list of coaches. We are also looking for spin coaches.”

Whoever comes into the post will have the workload management of the immensely talented Mustafizur Rahman as their primary responsibility with the youngster’s fitness called into question after a spate of minor injuries recently. While head coach Chandika Hathurusingha wants the left-armer fast bowler to head to Sussex to play in the limited-overs competitions in England, team physio Baizidul Islam had warned the bowler of burnout unless he took an immediate break from cricket.

The BCB president admitted Mustafizur will have to undergo a stringent medical test before deciding whether he is to be allowed to leave for the UK.

“His medical reports suggest that his fitness levels need to improve. He will be back from home after a few days and then go through another evaluation. If we find that he is fit, then we will have no problems sending him to Sussex. However, we won’t take any risk if he isn’t fit,” he said.

Bangladesh to adopt new selection strategy

The BCB also announced the formation of a two-tier selection process which will be adopted for the upcoming tours in order to avoid any scope of misunderstanding between the selectors and the team management.

A selection committee comprising the three national selectors, the coach, the manager and the head of the BCB’s cricket operations committee will forward the names to the selection panel consisting of the chief selector and the two national selectors. After conducting an internal discussion, the national selectors will once deliberate with the coach and manager before making a final call on the team’s composition.

The final team will then be forwarded to the BCB president for the final approval.

“This way there will be no scope for disagreement,” said Papon. “We are done discussing the new selection policy. It will now be passed on to the board and an official decision will be taken at the board meeting,” he added.