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Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) suspended head coach Chandika Hathurusingha on disciplinary grounds ahead of the home series against South Africa as he has been suspended for 48 hours and is to be terminated immediately.

BCB boss Faruque Ahmed announced on Tuesday that West Indies former coach Phil Simmons is set to be the new interim coach.

There was an allegation that Hathurusingha assaulted a national team player during the ODI World Cup in India last year and BCB found him guilty after investigation.

Faruque also mentioned he violated his terms as he spend holidays more that than that was mentioned in his contract and these are the key reason behind his termination. 

“Chandika Hathurusingha has been suspended not because of the team’s performance, but for slappping a player during last ODI World Cup and for spending holidays more than that was mentioned in his contract.” Faruque said in the press conference.

Hathurusingha's contract with the Bangladesh Cricket Board was until the Champions Trophy starting in February. But there was indications about his removal even before that after Faruque joined the BCB.

After having examined the evaluation report of the 2023 World Cup, BCB found Hathurusingha guilty of inappropriate behaviour with a national team player. He has also been accused of causing divisions among senior players within the squad.

A more serious offense, however, is that Hathurusingha has apparently taken more leaves than are granted to him. Whereas 45 days per year are given to him as leaves in his contract, for the first year of this current term, he has taken an extra 67 days. In the second year, he has already exceeded by 14 days.

Since these leaves have not been formally approved, as explained by the BCB, this constitutes a violation of the contract by the coach.

Under Hathurusinghe, Bangladesh put up poor performances during last year's ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup campaign this year.

His best performance this season came when Bangladesh beat Pakistan 2-0 in the Test series earlier this year. It was their first victory in Pakistan and their first away Test series in 15 years. But on the subsequent tour to India, they went down 2-0 in the Tests and 3-0 in the T20Is, including a record defeat in the third match.