Papon: Richard Pybus still has problems with Bangladesh cricket
One of the things about BCB president, Nazmul Hasan Papon,
is that he has an outspoken nature and isn’t shy to express his opinions when
asked for it. At a press conference earlier today, which took place after
interviewing coaching candidate, Richard Pybus, Papon revealed that a lot of
things.
Among them, he talked about the friction of the past with
the England-born South African. Papon said, “Yes, yes, we remember [the feud
against Pybus] and we asked him a lot of questions about it.” He, however,
refused to reveal what Pybus answered.
He then went on to reveal that Pybus still had the same
accusations against the Bangladesh cricket team that he had 5 years ago.
“Pybus still had the same questions against us and I then
asked him why he applied for the job, then,” Papon said candidly.
“He then had an answer for that question, but I don’t want
to reveal what he said,” Papon added.
When asked about the interest from Pybus’ end, he mentioned
that he is “100% interested” in the job and wants to make changes with a
long-term goal in mind.
“Pybus gave us a good presentation – no doubt – however, his
plan was for the next 10 years, but we also have to consider the short-term
along with the long-term.
“At this point of time, we can’t fulfill all his needs, but
if we actually work according to the plan laid out by him, it will benefit the
team.
He was further asked whether he chose to interview Pybus
because of the lack of available good coaches, but Papon denied those claims,
stating that Pybus is a coach of “high caliber.”
“Among the coaches that we shortlisted, none of them had
worked with us before excluding Pybus. It is not that we didn’t have good
coaches available, but most of them are already contracted to some team.
“Some can join us 6 months down the line, some can join us a
year later and some others can join us after two years.
“But we don’t have the privilege to wait that long.”
Papon further stated that there was a possibility to hire
two coaches, but the utmost priority was to get “a permanent coach” and a
failure to do so before the upcoming series will bring the points about how to
approach the next series.
He also stated he has spoken to Mashrafe, Shakib and Tamim
Iqbal about the situation and that the players had “different opinions” about
the issue. He said, “Some think that they don’t need a foreign coach, some
other think that Bangladeshi coach would be fine and there are also some who
are of the opinion that the team doesn’t need a coach at all.”
Finally, he stated that there is a possibility that a BPL team’s coach could become the coach of Bangladesh, but refrained from saying anymore because nothing is certain as of now.
Picture Courtesy : Getty Images
