Rhodes in charge till 2020

As expected, former England wicketkeeper Steve Rhodes arrived in the capital yesterday and wasted no time in putting ink to paper in the official deal with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and becoming the first Englishman to be the Tigers' head coach.

The 53-year-old Rhodes's contract will see him take the reins of the Tigers till the World Twenty20 to be held in October-November, 2020, in Australia and he will join the team on June 20 to guide the team during the upcoming tour of West Indies in July-Augustthis year.

BCB first contacted Rhodes in March this year and his appointment was expedited as he also featured in the shortlist of Gary Kirsten -- the consultant in BCB's searchfor coaches -- and asked to appear for an interview, which was believed to be just a formality.

Rhodes presented his plan for the next two years after arriving yesterday morning and a few hours later, BCB president Nazmul Hassan -- with the former Worcestershire coach standing next to him -- confirmed the appointment of the new head coach to end a seven-month search following ChandikaHathurusingha's resignation.

Rhodes is surely not the big name that the board had initially said it was looking for, but they had evidently changed the outlook, accepting the reality that in the era of T20 franchises, no one famous or well-known is eager to take on the workload of a national side. But Rhodes will face a big challenge, especially as he will replace a coach in Hathurusinghawho was Bangladesh's most successful coach of all time.

Like Rhodes, Hathurusingha was also not a big name before taking charge of Bangladesh but under his guidance the Tigers reached the 2015 ICC World Cup quarterfinals and the 2017 Champions Trophy semifinal, besides some stunning home success in ODI and Tests.

So, it will be interesting to see how Rhodes capitalises on his first assignment, especially as he is going to deal with players who have grown up in a different culture than Rhodes is used to. Additionally, the expectationsleading up to the ICC World Cup in England in May-July next year will be huge as many believe that Bangladesh's big five of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and MahmudullahRiyadcan deliver something big for the country in perhaps their last global tournament together.

And fans will also hope that there will be no premature departure for Rhodes, like in the case of many of his predecessors,and that he will instead be able to complete his stint with a long-term plan for the Tigers.