BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that Rhodes’ experience, especially in English conditions, gave him a distinct advantage over the other shortlisted coaches. With the World Cup in England under a year away, the BCB had been seeking someone with that specific background, which is why they had initially almost confirmed Paul Farbrace. Rhodes was also part of the England coaching staff during their Test series in Bangladesh in 2016.

‘Steve Rhodes is in our shortlist as a head coach,’ Chowdhury said. ‘We are hoping that he will meet us in Dhaka in a couple of days. We shared our tentative candidates list with Gary Kirsten so this is a joint effort. The list is made up of his recommendations and our list, which is why Rhodes is coming this week, reports www.espn.in.

‘We had initially approached big names and experienced coaches but they couldn’t come because of various reasons. Among the currently available coaches, Rhodes is the most experienced. Also, the 2019 World Cup will be held in England which is another reason that we are looking at him.’

Chowdhury further said that Rhodes will be making a presentation about his plans with the Bangladesh cricket team, similar to Richard Pybus and Phil Simmons’ interviews in December.

‘We have already communicated with him that we would like to know what plans he has for the Bangladesh team for the 2019 World Cup and 2020 World T20,’ Chowdhury said. ‘Generally, when someone is appearing for an interview here, it is assumed that we have had some basic discussions with him.’

Without naming Rhodes, Chowdhury said that the new coach will be joining the Bangladesh set-up during the training camp for the West Indies tour later this month. ‘During the break between the Afghanistan and West Indies series, we would expect the new coach to join the training camp ahead of the West Indies tour.’

The BCB’s search for the new head coach began in November last year when they first approached Tom Moody, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Andy Flower and Justin Langer but all five turned the offer down. Then they interviewed Pybus and Simmons but the BCB didn’t contact them back and both were soon appointed by Cricket West Indies and the Afghanistan Cricket Board respectively.

Then the BCB nearly confirmed Geoff Marsh and Farbrace before asking Kirsten to help them find a new coach in a tough market where T20 franchise assignments are turning out to be more attractive.