Sriram to coach Bangladesh T20I side; Domingo happy with 'nice focus' on Tests and ODIs

Russell Domingo feels a split-coaching plan for Bangladesh's men's national side is a "great idea". This, after S Sriram was appointed technical consultant of the team till the T20 World Cup in October. Sriram will be involved in the team's "game plans", in effect taking over the duties of the head coach.

After meeting the BCB top brass, including board president Nazmul Hassan, Domingo said on Monday that he was happy to shift his focus to Test cricket and ODIs.

"I think it's a great idea. It gives me a nice focus on the Test match and 50-overs stuff," Domingo said. "We have had some great results, and bad results, in T20s. I don't think it is a bad idea to make a fresh approach in T20s. I am very open-minded about it.

"It is not my team. It is not about me. I am all for making the team better. It gives me nice clarity with the 50-over World Cup coming. We know there's a lot of work [to be done] with the Test team."

Earlier this month, Jalal Yunus, BCB's cricket operations chairman, had expressed his - and, therefore, the BCB's - displeasure with Domingo, saying that the coach wasn't aggressive enough in the T20 format. Khaled Mahmud, the Bangladesh team director, had also weighed in, saying Domingo's philosophy in T20s didn't match that of the team.

Avoiding a war of words, Domingo only said, "Family life is important for me. It is very difficult to sustain - to come to tournaments fresh, to come in with a good attitude. Everyone has their opinion. I know my philosophy. I know my coaching style. I don't have too much of a comment on it."

Hassan revealed that Sriram, who recently stepped down from a long-term role with the Australian team and arrived in Dhaka on Sunday, and Domingo had been spoken to about their roles. "We met him [Sriram] for a while and discussed our future plans with Russell Domingo, who is going to give us a plan over the next three weeks," Hassan said. "He [Sriram] was interested to see the NCL [National Cricket league] and A-team matches to see our future prospects and those who are not in the national team."

Hassan however clarified that Sriram would not be given a "head coach" designation, even though he would be in charge during the Asia Cup, starting later this month.

"There's not going to be a head coach [for the T20I side]," Hassan said. "We have a batting coach [Jamie Siddons], a spin coach [Rangana Herath], a fast-bowling coach [Allan Donald] and a fielding coach [Shane McDermott]. We have the captain [Shakib Al Hasan]. We also have a technical consultant [Sriram] for T20s. He will give the game plan. We will have the team director, Jalal bhai and myself. Who else [do we need]?"