A new chapter under Hathurusingha's tutelage?

It was during Chandika Hathurusingha's first stint as Bangladesh head coach when the Tigers made a meteoric surge in ODI cricket and became virtually invincible on home soil.

Under the Sri Lankan's tutelage, Bangladesh not only knocked the England Lions out of the World Cup 2015 to qualify for the quarterfinals but also sealed victories in marquee home series against Pakistan, India and South Africa, as well as made it to the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017. 

Overall, Hathurusingha led Bangladesh to as many as 25 ODI wins compared to 23 losses and three No Results in his first stint.

However, Bangladesh's results in the other two formats under the headmaster's guidance left a lot to be desired. 

In his first stint, Bangladesh won only six and drew four out of 21 Tests. 

One can definitely make an argument of Bangladesh scoring maiden wins over England, Sri Lanka and Australia during that period. But one cannot help admitting the fact that both the home Test wins over England and Australia were the outcome of playing on heavily turning pitches, where the pacers hardly had any chance to showcase their talent. 

Bangladesh's woes in T20 cricket were even more evident during Hathurusingha's first stay, as they were in stark contrast with the team's commendable consistency in the other limited-over format. 

Apart from winning the one-off T20I against Pakistan in 2015 and then reaching the final of the 2016 Asia Cup which was played in the 20-over format, Bangladesh couldn't really flourish in T20s, and ended with only 10 wins against 19 losses and two No Results in between May 2014 and November 2017.

Bangladesh's failure to replicate their ODI success in the other two formats affected Hathurusingha's overall success rate (40.20%), which is actually lower than his successors - and now predecessors - Steve Rhodes (51.11%) and Russell Domingo (42.34%). 

And hence, even though Hathurusingha is widely regarded as the most successful coach Bangladesh has ever had - mostly for instilling a fearless attitude and winning mentality among the cricketers - statistics beg to differ. 

Hathurusingha, for the great cricket mind he indeed is, is also well aware of it, as reflected by his comments made right after arriving in Bangladesh a few weeks ago in the build-up to their now ongoing bilateral series against England. 

"As a nation, we know how to play ODI cricket. We need to do well in other formats as well," added Hathurusingha after saying, "Test cricket is very competitive. T20 is more popular now. So we have to find our own game plan."

While it hasn't been long since Hathurusingha was reappointed as Bangladesh head coach, early signs have already indicated the Sri Lankan knows what is needed to be done "game plan-wise" this time to ensure a sharp distinction from his previous spell. 

After losing the first two matches to concede the ODI series, the hosts made a great turnaround in the dead rubber in Chattogram, and then followed it up with a dominating six-wicket win in the opening T20I to make a brilliant "start of journey for 2024 T20 World Cup".

But first things first - after claiming their maiden win over England in the 20-over format, Bangladesh are now eyeing a rare T20 series win over a top-tier team in the world. 

It was England whom Hathurusingha's Bangladesh handed a landmark defeat in 2015 World Cup to kickstart a glorious chapter of 50-over format that would go down in the annals of Bangladesh cricket. 

Now, it will only be Peter Drury-level poetic if Hathurusingha's Bangladesh 2.0 can seal the T20 series against England in their favour to embark on a new voyage of coming of age in the shortest and longest formats as well.