Ahmed also said that Hathurusinghe was guilty of misconduct as a BCB employee because of all the extra leave he took. ESPNcricinfo understands that Hathurusinghe’s contract with the BCB capped his leave at 45 days per year, but the took 112 days in 2023 and 59 days till date in 2024.
“There were couple of incidents about the current coach which, for me as a former player, were quite painful,” Ahmed said. “As it doesn’t set a good example for the Bangladesh team, we have served him with a show-cause notice and suspension from duty as head coach today. His suspension is for a 48-hour notice period, which we are not bound to give him. But we did it out of courtesy as he is an international figure. We have suspended him, and with immediate effect afterwards he will be terminated.
“There was a misconduct with a player, and misconduct as an employee. He also spent more than three months [on leave], that is also a large part of his misconduct. He informed us in a scattered way, in one or two emails, that he has to go home. It can’t be for more than three months. Even as a board president, I cannot do what I want. I am guided by some rules. It is the norm. So there was a serious breach in that regard.”
Ahmed would not name the player involved in the alleged assault incident. “It was a sad incident for the particular player. I am not defending anyone, anything might happen in the heat of the moment, but you cannot hit a player. It is not on. This is the right punishment. It should have happened some time ago,” he said.
“The victim is not very comfortable about it. I will not mention his name. We will only talk about the misconduct. This incident shouldn’t have happened.”
Ahmed said he had read about the incident before he became the BCB chief, and he started an investigation after being elected to the post in August.
“I investigated myself. I spoke to the victim. I spoke to the eyewitnesses,” Ahmed said. “Both of their versions are already in the report. [The incident] was mentioned in a previous report.
“I remember feeling really disappointed when I read about the incident last year. I felt something should have be been done about it at the time. The ICC is quite strong about racism and abuse. They would be more serious about assault.”
“When I spoke about Hathurusinghe previously [before being elected BCB president], I spoke as a former player who was assessing a coach. I said at the time that he doesn’t have much more to give to Bangladesh. My decision today isn’t influenced by personal reasons.