Rangana Herath Likely To Replace Daniel Vettori As Bangladesh Spin Bowling Coach

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) cricket operations chairman Akram Khan has confirmed that former Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath might be the first choice to replace Daniel Vettori as the national team’s spin bowling coach.

This is because Vettori, who hails from New Zealand, was unable to continue as the spin bowling coach of the Bangladesh team due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This led to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) roping in local coach Sohel Islam to fill the role during the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.

But he will not travel with the Bangladesh team to Zimbabwe after opting for paternal leave and hence the BCB is looking for a new full-time option for the team.

Rangana Herath Is One Of The Candidates And He Is Certainly A Front-Runner For The Post: Akram Khan

According to Cricbuzz, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) cricket operations chairman Akram Khan revealed that Herath of Sri Lanka was the front-runner to replace Daniel Vettori as the spin coach of Bangladesh team. India’s Sairaj Bahutule and Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal are the other candidates on BCB’s list.

“Herath is one of the candidates and he is certainly a front-runner for the post. We would try our best to finalize it before the Zimbabwe tour as Australia will be touring Bangladesh just after the Zimbabwe tour with New Zealand and England following suit,” Akram Khan clarified.

Bangladesh recently defeated Sri Lanka 2-1 in the three-ODI series recording their maiden ODI series win over the Island nation.

Herath is one of the legends of Sri Lanka cricket, whose career blossomed after the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. From 93 Tests, Herath claimed 433 wickets at a strike rate of 60.03. In addition, he has 34 five-wicket hauls and 9 ten-wicket hauls to his name in the format. He also has a hat-trick for Sri Lanka in Tests.

The left-arm spinner had made his debut for Sri Lanka in 1999 and retired from the game in 2018, at the age of 40. He was part of Sri Lanka’s 2014 T20 World Cup-winning team and picked 5/3 in a do-or-die match against New Zealand in the tournament.

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