Mohammad Salahuddin is the head coach of Bangladesh for the 2026 Asian Games, and he has set his sights on winning gold at the event in Japan.
Bangladesh have enjoyed limited success at the Asian Games over the years. However, cricket has already given the country one of its biggest moments at the event. Bangladesh won gold in the men’s cricket competition in 2010. Salahuddin now wants his team to repeat that success.
“In the men’s cricket (in 2010) and (we’ve won) maybe one or two silvers in kabaddi. Other than that, we don’t have major achievements,” Salahuddin told Cricbuzz.
“A large contingent is travelling from Bangladesh but there are very few events where we can actually win a medal. That’s why we are very serious about cricket and we want Bangladesh to win gold.”
Bangladesh started their preparation at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Sunday. The players have recently been involved in a different format. Salahuddin said the team will use the short preparation period to adjust to T20 cricket.
“Since we played in a different format before this, we will focus on adapting to this format as quickly as possible,” he said.
The head coach also wants his players to have the right mindset for a knockout tournament.
“This is a knockout tournament, and T20 is always anyone’s game,” Salahuddin said.
He believes Bangladesh cannot take any opponent lightly, especially with Associate teams playing plenty of T20 cricket.
“The Associate Members mostly play this format, so they actually have some advantage here because we often have to adapt between formats,” he said.
“You can’t take anyone lightly. You have to play every match seriously, and you have to play to win every match.”
Bangladesh will have only a few days to prepare at home before travelling to Japan. Salahuddin said they will also play some practice matches against the Bangladesh A team.
