Mohammad Salahuddin, who is currently the coach of Gazi Group Chattogram in the inaugural Bangabandhu T20 Cup, expressed his displeasure over coaches’ salaries in Bangladesh. From 2008 to 2010, Salahuddin worked as the head coach of the national team and also won two Bangladesh Premier League titles with Comilla Victorians along with plenty of other titles.

However, the veteran has had to work a regular job with the Gazi Group to earn his living. In the ongoing T20 league, players in Grade D are being paid BDT 400,000 (approx. USD 4,717) even as the head coaches are getting BDT 300,000 (approx. USD 3,538). Bearing in mind the current scenario, Salahuddin doesn’t wish to encourage players to take up coaching roles.

I will not encourage anyone to take up coaching, says Mohammad Salahuddin

“We are not even receiving what a player in D grade is getting, so coaches are E grade people. That makes assistant coaches from F grade, trainers are G or H grade and so on,” Salahuddin was quoted as saying in ESPNcricinfo.

“I am not taking a fee for this tournament since I am employed by Gazi Group but I am actually quite disappointed with coaches’ payments. I always wanted players to become coaches once their playing careers are over, so that they can continue to have a decent status in life. But seeing the money involved these days, I will not encourage anyone to take up coaching,” he stated.

“If you believe that a coach has an influence on a player then I think we should be valued properly. Otherwise, it just means that we have no impact on our teams. We are just here to run a match or a tournament, and nothing else,” he added.

Apart from Salahuddin, the other coaches in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup are Sarwar Imran (Minister Rajshahi), Mizanur Rahman (Gemcon Khulna), Shohel Islam (Fortune Barishal) and Khaled Mahmud Sujon (Beximco Dhaka).

In the final on Friday, Chattogram would be locking horns with Gemcon Khulna at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka. In the league stage, Chattogram beat Khulna both times after which Mahmudullah’s Khulna hit back with a 47-run win in the Qualifier 1.

However, Chattogram came back, beating Mushfiqur Rahim’s Dhaka by seven wickets in the Qualifier 2 and thereby made the final.