“Nothing in life surprises me anymore,” that was Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons’ reaction when asked about the change in leadership at the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
On 7 April, the National Sports Council dissolved the board led by Aminul Islam Bulbul due to irregularities in the last election, with Tamim Iqbal appointed as the head of an ad hoc committee consisting of 11 members.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday ahead of the ODI series against New Zealand, Simmons was asked whether he was surprised by the rapid changes, especially as he has already worked under three different presidents during his tenure.
Simmons responded calmly. “Nothing in life surprises me anymore. And that’s not just to do with Bangladesh, it’s just life itself. I’ve been through enough to know that things happen on a daily basis. So I’m not surprised with anything.”
Despite the administrative changes, Simmons made it clear that the team’s preparation has not been affected. “First of all, it doesn’t affect what we do, how we train, and it didn’t affect the camp that we had. It was planned and it was carried out,” he said.
When asked whether such changes could have a psychological impact on the players, Simmons remained optimistic, suggesting the squad is focused on their preparation.
Simmons said, “If you ask how it affects the players, you’ll have to ask the players because I can’t really see any psychological effect because they did all the work,” he said. “They worked as hard as they usually do, and even harder some of them. So they’re still doing all that’s needed in preparation for this series.”
Since taking over the role three months ago, Tamim has also interacted with the national team. Simmons described those interactions as routine. “Yes, we had a chat with him, the staff, and then he came down a couple of days ago during the game to the dressing room and had a chat with us.”
