Bangladesh can soon have a mystery spinner, says new spin coach Mushtaq Ahmed

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Dhaka, April 23 (IANS) Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistan's legendary former spinner and Bangladesh's newly appointed spin-bowling coach, has joined the national camp at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Mushtaq joined the camp along with the rest of the coaching panel, including head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, who joined the Tigers' camp following the Eid holidays.

According to reports in the Bangladesh media, Mushtaq was given a warm welcome by a few of the national team cricketers and the coaching staff. He later got into the Bangladesh team's practice kit and spoke about his arrival to the country in a video posted by Bangladesh Cricket Board's official Facebook page.

Mushtaq thanked everyone for the warm welcome accorded to him.

"The welcome has been great right from the airport. It is always great to visit Bangladesh because the locals are big fans of Pakistani cricketers and Pakistani people. We enjoy coming here and playing cricket here because of the beautiful hospitality you get. We like the food and everything here," Mushtaq said in the video.

"My last visit to Bangladesh as a player was in 1998. It is very challenging here in terms of the skillset required from a player's point of view as well as a coach's. It is totally different to other parts of the world. You have to adapt and be proactive to understand your cricket here.

"You have to believe as a coach and I am here to make a difference. InShaAllah, I will make a difference in the spin department with my experience over the years. I believe you can only coach teams that are coachable. I believe the team is talented and can challenge any side," Mushtaq said in the video.

Asked whether they could discover mystery spinners in Bangladesh, Mushtaq said why not.

"In Asia, you always see that a leg-spinner, a mystery spinner, or a chinaman is bowling in the nets in club cricket and in net practices. You've got to go to local coaches and hopefully, that is where my experience will come into play. We can communicate (with the local coaches) and meet lots of club coaches and first-class coaches and then we can figure out how to find good leg-spinners and chinamans because, in white-ball cricket, you need to have spinners who can get you wickets in the middle overs. It's very important to look for mystery spinners," said the 53-year-old Mushtaq who has earlier served as spin bowling coach for the national teams of his native Pakistan, England and the West Indies.

In a successful career, Mushtaq played 52 Tests and 144 ODIs for Pakistan. In Tests, he took 185 wickets and has 165 scalps to his name in ODIs.

--IANS

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