Papon ponders selector's role for Chandika

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon has said that he supports the idea of providing the national coach a say in team selection.

Speaking to reporters during an informal press meet at his home yesterday, Papon indicated that in the near future, coach Chandika Hathurusingha might just be included in the national selection panel.

“It would make things a lot less complicated. For instance, if the coach wants a particular player in but he is not in the squad, then he will have to come to me and I will have to speak to the selectors and this in turn becomes a very long process. “All this will become a lot easier if the coach has a say in the selection process. The issue will be solved at the start and it will have nothing to do with me,” said Papon.

There have been a number of times in the past when there have been disagreements between the selection panel and the coach. Prolonged discussions regarding the inclusion of certain players, at times, even led to a delay in the announcement of the final team.

Leg-spinner Jubair Hossain, for instance, is one such player whose position in the side has reportedly been widely debated between the two parties.

Papon also spoke about the possibility of increasing the number of members in the selection panel. As of now, Faruque Ahmed leads the three-member selection panel with former cricketers Habibul Bashar and Minhajul Abedin.

According to the BCB president, the expansion of the panel will make it possible for the selectors to observe many more cricketers in domestic cricket.

On a different note, Papon said that the board is planning to begin a programme that would help them find good spinners with proper bowling actions at grassroots level.