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A lot of former and current players have shown interest in taking up coaching as a career, said the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s programme coordinator of the game development, Habibul Bashar, on Saturday. 

The former national team captain also stated that they were emphasising developing the root-level coaches in order to fulfil the BCB’s vision of spreading cricket. 

The BCB has recently organised a Level-A coaching seminar themed ‘Services and Partners’ where representatives from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Ansars, as well as from the public universities, have taken part. 

‘We feel that it’s important to educate people if we want to spread cricket. The people who have come here generally work at the root level. If we can educate and upgrade them, that will help Bangladesh cricket,’ Habibul told the reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday.  

‘We have started with the level-A. We have plans to [hold] level-1, 2, and 3 programs. We are trying to emphasise game education. This will be a continuous process. We want to train the coaches more,’ he added. 

According to Bashar, their upcoming programs have drawn a lot of attention, especially from the former and current cricketers.  

‘A lot of CVs have been submitted for the Level-1 course, especially from the first-class players. Many of them are still playing or will play for another one or two years,’ said the former national selector. 

‘They are now interested in coming into coaching. Many have already retired from playing; they have years of experience, and they want to come into coaching, which is good,’ he added. 

Bashar thinks that this is unprecedented in the country’s cricket. 

‘In the past, I haven’t really seen so many cricketers interested in coaching. Five or ten years ago, cricketers didn’t really want to come into coaching. But now we’re seeing that many who have finished their first-class careers, finished good careers, are wanting to enter coaching’, he said. 

Bashar also hopes that it would help Bangladesh cricket. 

‘Those who have played cricket are always one step ahead. They understand the finer points of cricket better. If we can train them up in coaching as well, then surely someone from here will do really well as a coach,’ he said. 

Bashar also echoed the board president, Aminul Islam’s vision of spreading cricket. 

‘We strongly believe that Bangladesh cricket is not only about those who play cricket,’ he said. ‘Those who play professionally, they come through a system. But if we think about overall cricket, the people should be able to teach proper cricket when someone just starts to play cricket. That’s why we are emphasising root-level cricket.’ 

In order to do that, the BCB is working on the developments of the district-level coaching, said Bashar. 

‘We are working on how to upgrade the district-level coaches. We have already done a course; it will happen in every division. See, a player first comes to a district-level coach. So their role is very important.’