Hathurusingha says it’s time to ‘move on’ from some experienced stars

Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said that despite the challenge of facing New Zealand without many of the veteran players, it's time to move on from some of the experienced stars.

Names like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das and Taskin Ahmed are not available for the Test series against New Zealand. The first of the two-match Test series begins at Sylhet on Tuesday, November 28th and for Hathurusingha it would be a challenging task.

"It's challenging to lose that much of experience from any team, especially for Bangladesh as those guys have been part of the team in every format for more than 15 years, some of them and for some 10 years," the head coach said at a press conference in Sylhet today.

For many the argument might be not having many of the experienced players but for Hathurusingha it was an opportunity test new player and also move on from veteran players who have served for a long time.

"So it's in one side for everybody and for us it's something to look forward to in order to see what the youngsters can do. I think it's time that we move on from some of the players who played for a long time. They are not going to be there forever. But this is happening for many reasons so I think it's exciting and it's an opportunity for some of the youngsters to make their name and have long careers," he said.

Shakib and Taskin are currently recuperating from injuries while Liton had asked for a month's leave due to family reasons. Tamim Iqbal is expected to hold talks with the board regarding his plans going forward, having not played the World Cup.

Given that the series comes right after the World Cup, the preparation of the series was also on the agenda.

"Most of the other players have been playing NCL and as you know it's almost like a new-look Bangladesh team for various reasons, not by design.

We are as ready as we can be and looking forward to the Test series," he remarked.