Mohammad Salahuddin, the Gazi Group Chattogram head coach, lashed out against the under-payment of coaches in Bangladesh, calling the money on offer "embarrassing".

A former assistant coach with the national side from 2008 to 2010, Salahuddin has won several coaching laurels including two BPL titles with Comilla Victorians and a number of domestic trophies over two decades. However, despite these successes, Salahuddin has had to work a regular day job with the Gazi Group for most of the year to earn his living.

"We are not even receiving what a player in D grade is getting, so coaches are E grade people," Salahuddin said. "That makes assistant coaches from F grade, trainers are G or H grade and so on."

In the ongoing Bangabandhu T20 Cup, where Salahuddin's side will take on Gemcon Khulna in the final on Friday, the players who are in Grade D are paid BDT 400,000 (approx. USD 4,717), while head coaches are paid BDT 300,000 (approx.. USD 3,538). The rest of the support staff get even less than that.

Given the state of finances, Salahuddin said he would not be encouraging any current player to take up coaching.

"I am not taking a fee for this tournament since I am employed by Gazi Group but I am actually quite disappointed with coaches' payments," Salahuddin said. "I always wanted players to become coaches once their playing careers are over, so that they can continue to have a decent status in life. But seeing the money involved these days, I will not encourage anyone to take up coaching.

"If you believe that a coach has influence on a player then I think we should be valued properly. Otherwise it just means that we have no impact on our teams. We are just here to run a match or a tournament, and nothing else."

Apart from Salahuddin, the other coaches in this tournament are Shohel Islam (Fortune Barishal), Mizanur Rahman (Gemcon Khulna), Sarwar Imran (Minister Rajshahi) and Khaled Mahmud (Beximco Dhaka).