Bangladesh Play With More Freedom Under Hathurusingha Samaraweera

Thilan Samaraweera the former Sri Lankan batsman, praised his former team-mate Chandika Hathurusingha for instilling self-belief into the Bangladesh set-up.

Hathurusingha, who was appointed as the head of the Asian country in May 2014, guided Bangladesh to the quarter-finals of the 50-over World Cup last year. Under his tutelage, Bangladesh also beat India 2-1 in a three-match One-Day International (ODI) series and reached the final of the Asia Cup.

"I think the freedom that the coaching staff led by Chandi gave to the Bangladesh players made them believe they could fight against the top teams. You can see in the last 18 months they beat Pakistan, India and South Africa and they also did well in the World Cup in different conditions. More freedom, belief and support from senior to younger players are what a team requires.

"I think more about the mental toughness and I can see how much they have changed over the last 18 months in terms of the technical aspects," he observed.

Samaraweera was roped in by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) as the batting consultant for the series against Afghanistan and England, respectively. Earlier, the 39-year-old worked in a similar role for Australia at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane before the tour of Sri Lanka.

Samaraweera has the task of fine-tuning the skills of Bangladesh's batsmen, as they haven't played international cricket since the World T20 held in India this year.

"On the first day I am a bit quiet as I want to get to know the players. There are a few newcomers. I know four to five players as I played against them. Just had a few chats here and there. After another day I will be more comfortable working with this group.

"My first priority is the Afghanistan series because I know that when you are not playing for four to five months, the international arena seems totally different than practice. I think the key is to get into the groove of international cricket. I am not worried about talent as the talent is there."