You don’t need to be best friends when representing country, says Hathurusingha

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha stated that he is unaware of the dispute between Shakib al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal. He believes that as long as there is no negative energy in the team, there will be no problems.

The alleged animosity between Tamim and Shakib had been rumoured around the cricketing community a long time and many believe that over time, Bangladesh's performance in ODIs has suffered as a result of it.

“I have been on the job for seven days. I have been in dressing rooms and I have been in teams where everyone don’t get along. Still, when they step out, they play as a team. When you play for your national team that’s what you expect. You don’t need to be best of friends to go out and have dinner. As long as it is not affecting, I don’t see it as a problem," said Hathurusingha in the press conference.

Shakib joined the squad on Monday owing to a family emergency, and as a result, he missed a few practices. Yet, the coach was pleased and praised the ace allrounder for his return.

"Shakib had an emergency and went home. I asked him how he feels [after returning] and he said he was feeling good. He practised yesterday and today as well. You have to back him for his experience and who he is. With 17 years of experience, he knows his body and I have to go by his judgement."

“When he is in form, he is one of the world’s best bowlers. We won the India series when he started. He is coming back to that form now. He bowled really well in the recent India series too. He always bowls in the crucial moments, so we will try to use him as a strike bowler,” he added.

Chandika was impressed with everyone’s impact on the squad, especially the youngsters. He also said that aggressive cricket does not imply smashing the ball outside the ground.

“They have improved in terms of understanding their roles. Mainly I was impressed with how they take the ownership of how they want to prepare. I am very pleased about it. Even the youngsters, you don’t need to guide them too much. They know how to prepare and know their various roles,"

“We played aggressive cricket in my last stint. You see only action of batters. There are many ways of playing aggressive cricket apart from hitting the ball out of the ground. It is the attitude that we are bringing, whether fielding, bowling or batting, we will be aggressive," he added.