Steve Rhodes was appointed as Bangladesh’s head coach in 2018 for a two-year contract.
But right after the World Cup 2019, he was sacked without a reason given officially by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
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After more than two years, Rhodes is back in Dhaka, and he said in his first media interaction, he followed Bangladesh cricket closely even after he lost his job.
Rhodes came to Bangladesh again as the consultant of the BPL team Comilla Victorians. On Tuesday, Rhodes said he feels great to be back in Bangladesh after a while.
“It's great to be back. The one great thing when I arrived is that the Comilla Victorians made me feel very welcome which was very special, and I feel very honoured to be back here with good people in the place that I do really enjoy,” Rhodes said.
It was not clear what role Rhodes would play for the Victorians. But Rhodes made it clear that he came as a team consultant for the Victorians who have great success in BPL.
“He is (Mohammad Salahuddin) the head coach, and I'm here to assist, to help, not just the players, but the coaches as well. And hopefully, my experience and my knowledge of cricket will be able to add a little bit here and there. I got on really well with Salahuddin. I think it's going to work very, very well. It's important that players know the head coach is Salahuddin. It's important the players know that I'm here just to help-- a little bit here and there,” Rhodes added.
Rhodes was reluctant to talk about his unexpected departure from Bangladesh after the World Cup 2019. He believes that Bangladesh put in a great show in the World Cup.
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“I don't really want to get dragged into any conversation about the BCB or anything. I don't think that's fair, that's history. All I can say is the World Cup- If you look back at the games; apart from the Pakistan game, we played pretty well in all the games,” the former Bangladesh coach said.
“So even in defeats against England and against India, we put up a good show. It wasn't an annihilation of Bangladesh. We played some really good cricket and mixed in between in the World Cup, we actually had some good wins, and against New Zealand, we pushed them close in the World Cup. I don't really want to get too involved in all that now. All I can say is how pleased I am to be back,” he added.
Under Rhodes’ coaching, Bangladesh won their first multi-national event in Scotland right before the World Cup beating West Indies in a tri-nation ODI tournament. Rhodes said he believes that Bangladesh is going to be a better team in the years to come.