Naved Nawaz backs Bangladesh's own biomechanics lab to aid player development

Bangladesh's Under-19 World Cup-winning coach, Naved Nawaz, has a new role. The challenges have changed as he will now be serving as the coach educator for the Bangladesh Cricket Board while also looking after the Under-23 programme, which was recently introduced by the board. Nawaz was seen in action while guiding local coaches in the Level-2 coaching programme at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. During the drinks break, the former Sri Lankan all-rounder spoke at length with Cricketlineguruji regarding his vision.

Here are the excerpts.

You have returned to Bangladesh with a new role as you are now a coach educator as well as the coach of the Under-23 squad. First, tell us what you are trying to do as a coach educator.

So, I think from a coach education perspective, what we are trying to do is, because currently there are no courses run in Bangladesh, we are trying to form the department to make sure that we have locally grown coaches and also to make sure that we have our own curriculum. See, currently when we get people from overseas to come and conduct ICC courses and all that, they run courses that are especially designed for different parts of the world, right? So, what we are trying to do is to make sure that we have a curriculum which meets the requirements of our coaches, understand the constraints that our coaches are facing, and provide answers to those. If there is a technical deficiency in our coaching group, we provide more technical knowledge to our coaches so they can teach the juniors who are coming through and also improve coaching methods and things like that. It will be a localized syllabus, analysing local needs and catering to them.

There is a saying that our local coaches are not very familiar with biomechanics. What's your take on that?

I think the word biomechanics could get a bit heavy, but the thing is, if you simplify it, it is about the mechanics of how the body works in sport. I mean, when you are running, fielding, batting or bowling, how you become an efficient athlete, right? So, for these kinds of things, if you want to go very deep into it, there are a few specialists in the world who work in cricket who can come and help us with that. The basic mechanical principles are there, and they will definitely be part of our curriculum.

Do you feel it's high time the BCB developed its own biomechanics lab?

See, if you look at the way the sport is going, biomechanics labs are used to detect actions, make corrections, prevent injuries, aid rehabilitation and things like that. Most countries use biomechanics labs, and in most universities they study sports science. So, it is not dedicated only to cricket but generally to all sports. Maybe if Bangladesh develops something like that, it can cater to other sports as well. If you look at Bangladesh, football is coming up very nicely and a lot of other sports are also growing, so we can use it in different ways. It will definitely help our cricketers as well. There are lots of injury concerns among our fast bowlers. So, it's a very specialised subject and there are not a lot of people in the world who specialise in it. There are very few people. Obviously, we'll have to use the knowledge of people who have studied that subject. But having said that, it is definitely a good idea to venture into that area.

You are now entrusted with the responsibility of handling Under-23 cricketers after spending so many years as the Under-19 head coach. How do you see this transformation?

It's an extension of the Under-19 programme, I would say. Also, there are some late bloomers in our cricket who are not able to make the Under-19 squads but have come into club cricket and domestic cricket and done well. So, this programme is about helping these players and strengthening the pipeline, basically, to produce better cricketers so that we have stronger feeder teams and, hopefully, better players coming through into the Bangladesh national team. The end goal is for the national team to do well.

Do you feel the knowledge you gained while working with Under-19 cricketers will help you in your new role, as you are well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of most of the cricketers expected to be part of your programme?

Yeah, definitely. My experience in the Under-19 setup, where I worked for many years in Sri Lanka as well as in Bangladesh, is definitely going to help because I have quite a lot of knowledge about what these players need to extend their careers and bridge the gaps before moving into senior-level cricket. So, that's my plan-to have the squads ready and put together a good programme so that these players are much better equipped to play first-class cricket and the BPL and perform well, so that there will be a bigger pool for the national selectors to pick from.