Inside sacked coach Chandika Hathurusingha’s desperate dash to survive “policeless” Bangladesh

An overseas cricket coach admired by Pat Cummins has revealed the extraordinary story of how he had to flee Bangladesh after a shocking allegation he claims never happened.

An overseas cricket coach admired by Pat Cummins has revealed the extraordinary story of how he had to flee Bangladesh after a shocking allegation he claims never happened.

Chandika Hathurusingha, who has lived in Sydney for the past 15 years and mentored Australian luminaries like Cummins and Steve Smith, was sacked as Bangladesh coach in October last year after the BCB board levelled allegations he assaulted a player during the 2023 World Cup.

The BCB also tried to allege Hathurusingha had breached his contract by taking more leave days than he was allowed, and the former Sri Lankan Test batsman was forced to flee Bangladesh in the dead of night amid fears for his safety as the country was in the midst of political turmoil.

Despite being told he had 48 hours to respond to the breach notice and prove his innocence, Bangladesh had within hours already flown a new coach Phil Simmons from the West Indies in to replace him, and taken away his personal security, leaving Hathurusingha convinced he is the victim of a pre-meditated set-up which has cruelled his coaching career.

Chandika Hathurusingha has been kept out of coaching due to a tenuous accusation.

Hathurusingha vehemently denies slapping bowler Nasum Ahmed in the dugout during Bangladesh’s World Cup clash against New Zealand in Chennai, a defence backed up by his assistant coaches at the time Rangana Herath and Nic Pothas, while Bangladesh’s captain Najmul Hossain Shanto has also said he was completely unaware of the alleged incident.

According to Hathurusingha, his best guess at what the allegation is based on, was him tapping Nasum on the back while sitting behind him in the dugout to get his attention to run gloves out to batsman on the field. He was never asked by the BCB for his version of events.

Nasum has refused to ever publicly comment and in the 12 month period between the alleged incident to when it was publicly aired, Hathurusingha says Nasum never raised an issue and even invited him to his new house three months after the World Cup.

Hathurusingha is one of the most experienced and well-regarded coaches on the international scene having had two stints coaching Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively as well as two tenures coaching Cricket NSW and one at Sydney Thunder, yet now he is struggling to land another job due to the allegations he says are completely baseless.

Bangladesh's Najmul Hossain Shanto was unaware of the alleged incident which cost Chandika Hathurusingha his job. Picture: AFP

“It’s everything because this is my career. Now they’ve ruined my career by bringing allegations rather than giving me an opportunity to defend myself,” Hathurusingha told this masthead.

“I have never had a fight with a player. I don’t show emotion to my players. Maybe I’ve kicked a dustbin out of sight from frustration – that’s happened to any coach. But that’s very different to what this is.

“It’s weighing on me. I don’t know how many opportunities I’ve missed from October to now, there has been so many.

“This is just them trying to end my contract. It was pre-meditated by the new President.”

Suspicions that the BCB set Hathurusingha up are supported by the fact President Faruque Ahmed in his previous role as a pundit had opposed the coach’s appointment in the first place, and said publicly that if was to ever take charge of the board he would make it his mission to sack Hathurusingha.

On the day before Bangladesh beat Pakistan on August 21, 2024 – the first Test in a historic series triumph for Bangladesh in Pakistan – newly appointed President Faruque publicly stated his desire to remove Hathurusingha as coach.

Chandika Hathurusingha played for Sri Lanka, pictured in a Test against England in 1991. Picture: Getty Images

“Around the allegation (from the 2023 World Cup), in my eyes, there’s no way that ever happened,” Nic Pothas, former South African cricketer and Hathurusingha’s assistant coach at Bangladesh at the time said.

“That’s just me knowing the person. He’s a highly, highly experienced international and professional coach. He wouldn’t have lasted at that level if he had that in him.

“I think there’s probably a grudge to bear from whoever alleged that. And the person who alleged it probably didn’t think it was going to blow up like this, and now that it has, I don’t think he’s realised what chaos he’s caused and how difficult he’s made Hathu’s life post Bangladesh.

“(Tapping players on the back) happens all the time. Because of the language barriers, you do have to communicate a lot through hand signals.”

Sri Lanka’s 400-Test wicket great Rangana Herath, another of Hathurusingha’s assistants at the time, is equally adamant the alleged assault was fabricated.

Sri Lankan great and former Hathurusingha assistant coach, Rangana Herath. Picture: AP Photo

“I can straight away say that there is nothing happened at that type of incident,” Herath said from his home in Melbourne.

“Being a World Cup there were many cameras on him. People can say an incident happened, but there has to be evidence. I strongly say nothing happened like that because I was there.

“Slapping and tapping are completely different.”

Hathurusingha is known in the cricket community as a gentle and nurturing soul, not the impulsive, angry figure these uninvestigated allegations from Bangladesh paint him to be.

“I first worked with Chandy 12 years ago when I was starting out my career … and gravitated toward him whenever he was coaching a team I was in,” Australian Test captain Pat Cummins said in a reference for Hathurusingha on his personal coaching website.

“Chandy always has a lot of enthusiasm, positivity and appetite to help get the best out of every player.”

Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins is among those to support Hathurusingha. Picture: AFP

South Australia’s Sheffield-Shield winning batsman Jason Sangha said; “I’ve never been involved with a coach who has the utmost care and interest for his players.”

Hathurusingha is currently working with Australian ODI spinner Tanveer Sangha privately in Sydney but with his credentials should be in the frame for the vacant New Zealand coaching job as well as new opportunities constantly coming up in the USA and other T20 leagues.

Privately he has been told by recruiters that the allegations made by the BCB are affecting his prospects.

Aside from the lasting impacts the untested allegations are having on his career, the BCB’s treatment of Hathurusingha also put his life in danger.

Any international coach who has coached Bangladesh will not stay in the country when the team is not playing or training due to ongoing political unrest and Hathurusingha maintains he always fulfilled the obligations of his contract by co-ordinating his coaches and players from abroad.

Hathurusingha struggles to hide his emotions when he talks through his desperate escape from Bangladesh at a time when the Government had been overthrown and the country was a policeless state.

Chandika Hathurusingha's on the alleged incident which may have cost him his career.

From the hotel lobby where he was holed up with his fellow coaches, Hathurusingha could see neighbouring buildings being looted and actual violence on the streets.

Hundreds of people were killed in Bangladesh during that period.

“The Bangladesh CEO’s last words to me was that his advice was I should go. You don’t need to tell any of the board people, do you have a ticket to go?’ This was a warning sign for me. That’s when I got a little bit alarmed,” Hathurusingha said.

“Normally I get a driver and a gunman when travelling around in that country. He said, ‘did you get your gunman and your driver today?’ I said, no, ‘I only had the driver.’

“I went straight to the bank, trying to get the money to leave the country. While I was in the bank there was a breaking news story on the TV; ‘Chandika sacked. Assaulted a player.’

“When that came up, the bank manager said, ‘coach, I have to come with you. It is not safe for you if people see you on the roads.’

“Now I’m panicking because I need to get out of the country.

“A friend drove me to the airport for a midnight flight on Singapore Airlines and I’m arriving in a cap and a hoodie and there’s no protection.

“They could have arrested me at the airport for trying to flee the country. There was a case where an interior minister from the previous Government was trying to flee the country and the plane was stopped on the runway and they kicked him off.

“All this is going through my mind.

“Then at the x-ray machine at the entrance, one of the air force officers said to me; ‘I’m sorry coach, I’m very sorry that you’re going’ (gets emotional).

“I was fearing for my life and he’s saying I had done something for their country.”

Chandika Hathurusingha, during his time as Sri Lanka coach, endured a torrid time when removed as Bangladesh coach. Picture: AFP

Pothas said the threat to Hathurusingha was real.

“I thought we were handled horrendously. The fact that we were actually in the country at all at the time,” Pothas said.

“We were literally holed up in a hotel watching absolute chaos go on around us.

“I’m on a British passport in a hotel which is owned by someone who was part of the old regime. And you’re (terrified) because no one is telling us what’s going on.

“You think about what happened in Mumbai and what’s happened in other places (terrorist events in cricket).

“It was the most ridiculous situation. We should never have been placed in that situation. For Hathu, to be advised by people in the bank to leave the country. I can’t imagine how frightening that is.”

Originally published as Inside sacked coach Chandika Hathurusingha’s desperate dash to survive “policeless” Bangladesh