Players in mental coma: Bangladesh coach slams Yunus official for World Cup exit

Bangladesh senior assistant coach Mohammad Salahuddin has slammed former sports advisor Asif Nazrul, claiming that two cricketers went into a mental coma after Bangladesh did not play in the T20 World Cup. Nazrul, who served under Bangladesh’s former interim leader Muhammad Yunus, had stood firm on the country’s decision not to play their matches on Indian soil, citing security concerns.

Scotland eventually replaced Bangladesh in Group C, marking the first time the team missed out on participating in the Men’s T20 World Cup. Speaking to reporters ahead of the Bangladesh Cricket League, which begins on February 23, Salahuddin criticised Nazrul for shattering the dreams of young players.

“Look, when a boy goes to play a World Cup, he brings his dream, his 27-year-old dream, here. You destroy that dream in one second. Fine, if it’s a country’s decision taken for national reasons, they will sacrifice for the country. But if you talk about loss, I will talk only about personal loss,” Salahuddin told the reporters on Thursday.

“Personally, you completely finished a boy’s dream. I know that two of my players went into a kind of coma mentally



for five days, completely lost. The fact that we were able to bring them back onto the field in this tournament is itself a big thing,” Salahuddin said.

Salahuddin lashed out at Nazrul for allegedly making blatant false claims and performing a U-turn on his earlier remarks. Initially, Nazrul had stated that it was the Bangladesh government’s decision that the team would not play their matches in India.

However, he later made a dramatic U-turn, asserting that the decision to skip the mega event was actually a collective one taken by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the players themselves to “protect national dignity.”

“He told such blatant lies. I myself am a teacher; teachers generally lie a bit less. That he would say such lies so openly -- I honestly can’t even imagine it. How will I even show my face in front of the boys? He took such a U-turn,” Salahuddin said.

“He is a teacher, a teacher at Dhaka University. A person from the highest educational institution of my country saying such lies -- we can’t accept this. How can we accept this? He said one thing earlier and later took a U-turn,” Salahuddin added.