Sujon welcomes Julian Wood’s appointment but urges focus on Test
Khaled Mahmud Sujon, Cricfrenzy
To strengthen the power-hitting ability of players like Litton Das and Towhid Hridoy, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed Julian Wood. The English coach will work with the cricketers for 28 days ahead of the Netherlands series and the Asia Cup.
However, Wood himself admitted that mastering power-hitting in such a short time is impossible. Former Bangladesh captain and ex-BCB director Khaled Mahmud Sujon echoed the same sentiment.
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Over the past few years, franchise cricket has revolutionized the T20 game. Players like Nicholas Pooran and Andre Russell have set new benchmarks. But Bangladesh remains far behind in the power-hitting department. Despite T20 cricket’s global progress, Bangladesh has struggled to keep pace.
That gap becomes even more evident in global tournaments. To address it, BCB turned to Wood. Since his arrival, he has already conducted sessions with local coaches, worked with women’s cricketers at BKSP, and is now training the men’s team in Sylhet.
While Wood is trying to improve Bangladesh’s power game, the physical build of West Indian, Australian, and English cricketers gives them a natural edge that Bangladeshi batters lack. Still, Sujon pointed out that Bangladesh’s statistics this year have been impressive.
At the same time, he reminded that improvement should not be limited to the shorter formats, but also extended to red-ball cricket.
During an exclusive interview with Cricfrenzy Sujon said: “Bringing in a coach is never wrong—rather, it’s a good move. Yes, we’ve brought him in for a short period because of time constraints, and I don’t see any problem with that either. Our boys are actually quite skilled in power-hitting. If you look at the statistics, Bangladesh has hit the most sixes in the powerplay this year—that’s true. But we must also think about how to play according to situations,
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“For T20 cricket, hiring a power-hitting coach is a good initiative, but how much impact it will have in 21 days depends on the players themselves. The most important thing is that those who can already hit sixes should not lose their natural game while changing techniques. Because in cricket, making technical adjustments is not easy—a small error can lead to a dismissal.”
“Even though we are not always successful in T20s, we have done well in the last two series. Beating Sri Lanka away was a big achievement in my view, because it’s never easy to defeat them in their own conditions. We also beat Pakistan at home.”
The former captain also cautioned that batters like Litton, Hridoy, Tanzid Tamim, or Parvez Emon should not lose their natural style while learning power-hitting. He said that responsibility lies with Wood, who must ensure his methods complement their existing strengths.
“Even so, I appreciate the initiative, because in T20 cricket we genuinely need power-hitting. It’s especially crucial for scoring runs at the start or at the death of an innings. I was pleased watching Tamim and Emon bat, because they were playing fearless cricket. Although the two haven’t clicked together yet, the day they do, scoring 80–90 runs in the powerplay overs will be possible.
“I don’t want them to change their natural game in such a short time. There is a risk of that happening, but once again, I say—any good idea should be implemented, and this coaching appointment should also be seen in that positive light.”
However, Sujon stressed that while T20 improvements are important, Bangladesh must not neglect the longest format of the game. He argued that Test cricket remains the true measure of a team’s quality and pointed out the lack of a specialized batting coach to address technical challenges in red-ball cricket.
“Have we ever thought about how comfortable we are against the new ball in Tests? We all say that Test cricket is the ultimate format. That’s exactly where Bangladesh needs to improve. Yet, till today, we haven’t hired a proper technical batting coach. And if we did, it was always with T20 cricket in mind. Of course, there’s logic in that—power-hitting is essential for T20s. But we should also think about having a technical batting coach who can teach Test cricketers how to handle the new ball and build long innings. In this area, we are still lagging behind—and we must admit that,” he added.
