Bangladesh suffered an embarrassing 2-0 loss to West Indies in the two-match Test series at home. This has not gone down well with Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan, who has slammed captain Mominul Haque and coach Russell Domingo for the series loss.
Bangladesh failed to chase 231 in the fourth innings of the second Test match as Rahkeem Cornwall (4/105), Jomel Warrican (3/47), and part-time spinner and West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite (3/25) restricted them to 213 all out.
This performance added to the agony of the loss of the first Test match despite the presence of all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan in the side. He missed out on the second match due to an injury and the replacement caused ruckus between the team management and the BCB President.
Nazmul Hassan told ESPNCricInfo, "When Shakib was injured, I had (board directors) Akram (Khan), (Khaled Mahmud) Sujon, (Ismail Haider) Mallick, (chief selector Minhajul Abedin) Nannu and (selector Habibul Bashar) Sumon in front of me."
"I gave them four or five options. My first choice was Mahmudullah Riyad, and then Mosaddek (Hossain), Mahedi (Hasan), and the fourth option was Soumya (Sarkar). They (captain Haque and coach Russell Domingo) selected Soumya," he added.
Hassan had himself called Mahmudullah, who complained of back pain. Thus, the Bangladesh captain and coach had just one option of Soumya Sarkar left for replacing Shakib Al Hasan.
"I still went ahead and personally called Mahmudullah, who told me he had back pain. Mosaddek was in Abu Dhabi. We tried, but they had only one choice. They didn't mention any other names," Hassan added.
Skipper Mominul Haque revealed that he opted for Sarkar as the southpaw was playing well in the ODIs and is an experienced player.
"Shakib bhai's absence threw off our combination. I needed a batsman who could bowl medium-pace. I went with Soumya because he is an experienced player, and has been playing ODIs recently too. These things come up when you lose a game, and it would have been a different story if we had won," Haque said.
(With inputs from ANI)
